A Game of Hunger
by Holz9364
Summary: What if Voldemort never heard the prophecy? What if he spared Harry and won the war? When just that happens Voldemort creates a way to prevent the new Britain he is building from ever defying him again, and it's called the Hunger Games. When best friends Harry and Hermione are reaped in their 6th year they are the spark that set the whole nation alight.. M for violence.
1. In the Beginning

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 1 -In the Beginning...  
**

**_A/N: AU! This isn't canon. Basically in this fic Snape doesn't hear the prophecy and therefore doesn't tell Voldemort who as a result doesn't see Harry as a threat. He kills James & Lily anyway because he knows they could pose trouble as they're in the order and have defied him before, but he spares Harry because Sirius & Remus manage to get away with him before he can kill him. He doesn't have an obsession with killing Harry because he doesn't understand what Harry is. Also Harry is slightly different (but not much) because he's grown up with Sirius rather than with the Dursleys. This first chapter is basically a prologue and the second chapter will actually be delving into Harry himself more rather than him as a baby. Oh also, I know Lily died in Harry's bedroom, but for the sake of this story both she & James died in the hall trying to stop Voldemort from getting upstairs._ **

**_ALSO. I should mention. By 'crossover' I mean this is the idea of the Hunger Games applied to an AU Potterverse. There is a strong plot crossover, but no actual characters from the HG involved in the fic._**

**_That's all, _**

**_Enjoy!_**

* * *

'REMUS! GRAB HARRY!'

Sirius was screaming to his best friend as he tried to hold off Lord Voldemort while standing over the dead bodies of his best friend and his wife in the hallway of their home in Godric's Hollow.

Not waiting for further instructions Remus rushed up the stairs, following Harry's screams. Sirius was slowly backing up them, all the while trying to keep Voldemort at bay and dodge the killing curses that kept missing his head by centimetres.

'Don't be foolish!' Voldemort hissed, 'save the boy by all means. What do I want with a mere child?'

'I don't know,' Sirius replied, ducking to avoid another killing curse, 'but I know you kill children just to wipe out entire families.'

'I'm thorough Black,' Voldemort hissed as he advanced on Sirius who by now was at the top of the stairs.

'Remus go!' Sirius yelled, dodging yet another killing curse.

Remus nodded and with Harry in his arms apparated away from the house. Knowing Harry was safe Sirius dived around the corner out of Voldemort's firing range and apparated to his home, Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

'Is he okay?' Sirius asked breathlessly when he landed hard on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor.

'He's fine,' Remus said as he tried to soothe Harry, 'just confused and upset.'

Sirius nodded and tried to get his breath back, 'James and Lily are dead.'

Remus nodded, the pain in his eyes impossible to miss, 'I know.'

'What happens now Remus?' Sirius asked in a quiet, scared voice.

'I don't know,' Remus replied honestly, 'but I don't think we should leave this house. I think we should stay here a while, for Harry's sake.'

'We have to fight!' Sirius objected as he got to his feet, 'we can't let James and Lily die in vain!'

'And how would fighting help that?' Remus asked calmly, 'surely we would be doing more for them by ensuring Harry is safe and is raised by people he loves!'

Sirius went silent as he considered this and then with a stiff nod agreed that Remus was right.

'Sit down Sirius,' Remus said, lowering his friend into a chair, 'you're still in shock.'

'Do you think he'll try and find us? To kill Harry?' Sirius asked Remus quietly.

'No,' Remus said honestly, 'he would only have killed Harry to wipe out the Potter line and I don't think he feels he needs to go to that much effort just to do that. After all, Harry's only a baby, he isn't a threat.'

'Yeah, now he isn't,' Sirius said darkly, 'but he might be one when he grows up.'

'That's true,' Remus agreed, 'but with everything else going on I doubt that's how Voldemort's thinking right now.'

Sirius nodded once more and stared at the baby in Remus's arms. He had stopped crying now but his face was still red and puffy from all the tears he had shed in the last few hours.

'Try and get some sleep Remus,' Sirius said as he took Harry from his friend and walked towards the sitting room, 'I'll stay up with Harry.'

Remus sighed as he got to his feet, 'I'll try,' he said simply, but they both knew as Remus went to his bedroom and Sirius to the sitting room that neither of them would sleep a wink tonight.

* * *

'Remus I can't just sit around and watch this anymore!' Sirius snapped one morning as he read the Daily Prophet, 'look how many more have died today! People we know! People we love! We can't just hide in this house and do nothing!'

'That's exactly what we have to do Sirius!' Remus said in an angry undertone so as not to alarm Harry, 'we can't risk going out to fight and leaving Harry an orphan! His only family are Muggles, do you really want him to be raised that way?'

Sirius glared at Remus and stormed from the room. Remus sighed, what Sirius was saying was true. People did keep dying, first Gideon and Fabian Prewett who had been close friends. Then fellow order member Edgar Bones along with his wife Elizabeth and their two young children. Marlene McKinnon and her husband Matthew had fallen too, as had fellow order members Benjy Fenwick and Dorcas Meadowes. The name they both kept wanting to appear never did however, Peter Pettigrew, their former friend who had betrayed Lily and James and was the reason that they were dead. Lily and James had been under the protection of the fidelius charm because they know Voldemort would see them as a target and Peter had been the secret keeper, the rat. There was good news with the bad, from coded letters Sirius and Remus knew their good friends Frank and Alice were in hiding with their son Neville, and after his brother had been killed Edward Bones and his wife Emily fled with their daughter Susan, they too were safe and in hiding.

The bad news was that the war was petering out slowly. More people were running away or going into hiding. Less people were fighting, Voldemort was winning. The only stronghold that he had not yet breached was Hogwarts which was still very much in Dumbledore's firm hands. The Ministry and the Prophet were now both controlled by Voldemort. Hogwarts was the last step, the last piece in his twisted, sick puzzle.

Remus got to his feet and picked Harry up, carrying him into the sitting room, 'Sirius, it can't be that bad. Dumbledore must know we're here, he'd have sent a coded message if he was worried.'

'I guess,' Sirius said with a deep sigh, 'but I still feel like we should be doing something.'

'I know,' Remus said simply as he sat down next to his friend on the sofa.

'It's been a week and already it feels like years,' Sirius whispered and Remus noticed for the first time what he was holding in his hands. It was James and Lily's wedding photograph.

'At least we have Harry,' Remus said quietly as he looked to the one and a half year old boy on his lap.

'Yeah,' Sirius said as he looked at Harry with tears in his eyes.

* * *

'Remus!'

The way Sirius shouted his name frightened Remus, he sounded panicked and scared so Remus rushed into the kitchen as fast as he could.

Sirius was sitting at the table, Harry was in a pen on the floor next to him. He was staring at the newspaper with wide eyes.

'What is it?' Remus asked anxiously as he grabbed the paper and looked at it himself.

Like Sirius his eyes widened in disbelief as he took in the words on the front page.

'_**HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE MURDERED'**_

'No,' Remus whispered in shock.

'He's dead,' Sirius choked, pointing to the picture of Dumbledore's dead body.

'How? How did Voldemort do it?' Remus asked, despairing because with Dumbledore dead they were surely doomed.

'He put McGonagall under the imperius curse' Sirius said darkly, 'she killed him in his sleep last night. He didn't even have a chance to defend himself.'

Remus sank down into the chair next to Sirius, 'I can't believe he actually got to Dumbledore.'

'Which means he now has Hogwarts,' Sirius said darkly, 'the wars over Remus. He's won.'

'What the hell is he going to do now?' Remus asked under his breath, 'kill all the Muggles and Muggle-borns?'

'I don't know,' Sirius answered honestly, 'but Hogwarts has been evacuated for the safety of the kids.'

'Until he makes attendance compulsory,' Remus said angrily.

'Yeah, I expect it will happen within the next couple of months,' Sirius said, sounding defeated.

'I know what you're thinking Sirius,' Remus said honestly, 'but it wouldn't have made a difference if we had fought. He still would have gotten to Dumbledore through McGonagall.'

'I know,' Sirius admitted but after that he said no more.

'I think we ought to wait around, stick to staying here for a bit,' Remus said after some consideration, 'until we know what's happening around us.'

'Yeah, okay,' Sirius replied, his eyes staring into the distance, he was still in shock, and Remus didn't entirely blame him.

* * *

'Sirius! We need a Muggle television!' Remus burst out when he hurried into the kitchen one morning a month after Dumbledore's death.

'Why?' Sirius asked with a frown as he tried to keep an eye on Harry who was eating his cereal.

'We need one, can't you just conjure one?' Remus asked frantically.

'Sure…' Sirius said and with a flick of his wand he did just that, 'I don't know if it will work in the house. I don't feel comfortable disabling the wards at the moment.'

'Don't worry I'll make it work,' Remus said and he got to work tapping the television and murmuring different spells.

About 10 minutes later the screen flickered to life and Remus told Sirius to watch the Muggle news.

The news reader looked anxious as she spoke, 'Earlier today an announcement was made by a man in a cloak who called himself 'Lord Voldemort'. In Trafalgar Square he issued a warning telling the world that there are people who possess magical abilities and people who do not which he called 'Muggles'. This man ordered all Muggles of the United Kingdom to leave or be killed. We have received intelligence from Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher that what this man says is true. A mass evacuation begins today in the capital cities of each country within the UK. More to follow on this changing situation.'

'What?' Sirius asked in disbelief when the television flickered out.

'Voldemort has given the Muggles an ultimatum. Leave or die,' Remus said.

'And they're leaving?' Sirius asked, still stunned.

'What other choice do they have? You and I both know Voldemort would kill them all,' Remus said desperately.

'If this is how he's treating the Muggles…' Sirius muttered, 'what the hell is he going to do to the Muggle-borns?'

'Or the half-breeds,' Remus muttered, referring to himself.

'Regardless of your condition Remus, you're still a pureblood,' Sirius said, trying to reassure his friend.

'I don't think that's going to mean much in this new world Voldemort is building,' Remus said darkly.

* * *

It turned out that Remus had been right. After one week most of the Muggles had left for Europe or places further afield such as America. The large country had taken in a lot of refugees from Britain, but there were still some too poor to leave. Some didn't leave because they didn't believe in the nonsense that had panicked the rest of the nation.

Needless to say each and every Muggle that chose to stay was killed by Voldemort's followers when he sent them out to round up the strays. In one week almost 5 million people had been killed across Britain. As they followed the story in the Daily Prophet Remus and Sirius were terrified about what would happen next, they watched sympathising Witches and Wizards creating mass graves for the Muggles who had died. They surprisingly weren't punished for this, just laughed at and ridiculed by the prophet. It had been 2 months now since James and Lily had died, almost 2 months since the war had been lost. Christmas came and went without any presents or any fancy food and the New Year wasn't celebrated because it brought a new start, but it wasn't a pleasant one.

On the 1st of January, 1982 a message from Lord Voldemort appeared in the Daily Prophet, and it did what it was meant to do. It put fear into the hearts of every witch or wizard across Britain.

'**A MESSAGE FROM YOUR MINISTER FOR MAGIC'**

The headline itself disgusted Sirius and Remus as they sat in the kitchen with the paper between them, but the Daily Prophet was delivered to every wizarding house in Britain now. There was no way to avoid it.

'_New Years greetings. As always a new year is a fresh start, which will not differ this year for it is the year I bring into force a new way to stop the people of this nation defying me again. I am your Lord, your ruler, your Minister for Magic and you must all respect this or suffer the consequences. I now control the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I will make several announcements today, most of which involve these two locations._

_Attendance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry becomes compulsory as of September 1__st__ 1982 to ALL students of magical ability. Those who do not attend will be seized and forcefully taken there.  
_

_In addition to this, the rules of sorting will change. All purebloods will automatically become Slytherins. The sorting hat will randomly distribute half-bloods, blood traitors, half-breeds and muggle-borns into the three remaining houses. _

_This last point ties in with the most major change I shall be enforcing. With Britain now free of Muggle scum we have much more room and free reign on how we use it. The statute of secrecy no longer exists. The kingdom of Britain will be divided into six districts where witches and wizards will be distributed accordingly. Please read below and understand which part of the country you will be assigned to._

_London city and Greater London: Pureblooded witches and wizards who are in some form affiliated with myself or have aided me in my cause. You will all be personally notified if you are included in this category._

_Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire: Pureblooded witches and wizards who can trace entirely pure lineage back through 6 generations. If a couple, both members must be pureblood and both members must be able to trace their lineage this far back. If this cannot be provided the couple must separate or agree to live in the area appropriate to the lesser of the coupling. _

_Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Suffolk, Norfolk: Pureblooded witches and wizards who can trace entirely pure lineage back through 4 generations. If a couple, both members must be pureblood and both members must be able to trace their lineage this far back. If this cannot be provided the couple must separate or agree to live in the area appropriate to the lesser of the coupling._

_The Remainder of Southern England & the entirety of Wales: Pureblooded witches and wizards who can trace entirely pure lineage back at least 2 generations. If a couple, both members must be pureblood and both members must be able to trace their lineage this far back. If this cannot be provided the couple must separate or agree to live in the area appropriate to the lesser of the coupling._

_The entirety of Northern England: Half-blooded witches and wizards. By this a person who has one magical parent and one Muggle parent. Equally a person who has one pureblood parent and one muggle-born parent. If part of a couple both members must be half-blood to reside together unless the person with higher status chooses to stay with the person of lower status in this region. _

_The entirety of Scotland: Muggle-born witches and wizards. By this a person who has magical ability but was born to two Muggle parents. Magical children born to Muggles were all seized before the Muggles departed Britain. These Muggle-born children will be placed with families in this region. This area will also house blood traitors, by this a person who sympathises and willingly associates with Muggles or Muggle-borns. _

_The Orkney and Shetland Islands: Half-breeded witches and wizards. By this a person who is for example a werewolf or vampire. This is deemed the safest option for the remainder of the wizarding race._

_Shortly you will receive notification of your new address and you will be ordered to register there within a week. Failure to do so will result in immediate execution._

_Happy New Year.'_

'We're going to be separated,' Remus whispered as he finished reading the horrendous message in the prophet.

'We aren't doing it, we won't go,' Sirius said firmly.

'We have to,' Remus said quietly, 'if we don't he will find us and kill us, and he won't stop at you and I.'

'Harry,' Sirius whispered, thinking of the boy who was still asleep upstairs.

'He's a half-blood, and I'm a pureblood,' Sirius said sounding panicked.

'He'll stay with you,' Remus assured Sirius, 'you're his legal guardian. Me on the other hand, they're sending me to an island where I can't hurt anyone. I suppose I can't blame them.'

'Remus-' Sirius began helplessly.

Remus shook his head, 'We can't do anything about it Sirius. We'll be allowed to visit.'

'I wouldn't be so sure,' Sirius said darkly, 'I don't know why he's doing this but I'm pretty sure he's not going to let us have free roam.'

'We could just leave, run away with Harry to somewhere in Europe, America maybe,' Remus said hopefully.

'You know we can't,' Sirius said in a quiet voice, he sounded very unlike himself, 'he'd find us and kill us, all of us.'

'So we're supposed to just play his game?' Remus asked angrily, his voice louder than usual, 'we're supposed to let him split us up? Put us miles apart from each other?'

'Yes!' Sirius snapped, he wasn't angry, he was upset, 'yes Remus that's exactly what we have to do if we want Harry to live! And if he dies then Lily and James died for NOTHING!'

Remus didn't shout back, he was quiet for a moment, 'I've lost Lily and James, I can't lose you and Harry too Sirius.'

'You won't lose us,' Sirius promised as he hugged his friend, 'we'll find a way. We'll see each other again, I'll make sure of it.'

Remus nodded, knowing that what Sirius was saying wasn't possible.

'We have a week,' Sirius said as he pulled back from the hug, 'let's not waste it.'

* * *

Two days after the release of the article three letters materialised in the kitchen when Sirius and Remus made their way downstairs from another sleepless night. They both swallowed lumps in their throats as they realised what the letters were.

'Let's just open them and get this over with,' Remus said miserably as he grabbed the letter addressed to him and gently opened it, sliding out the parchment inside.

'_Dear Remus Lupin,_

_You have been assigned a one-bedroom cottage in the village of Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands due to your half-breed status. This region will be known as 'District 6' henceforth._

_You are required to check in with officials before 12 noon on the 11__th__ of January. If you fail to do so you will be taken to the Ministry for further trial. It is advised that you take this letter seriously and relocate to your new address._

_No communication is allowed within the new districts so it is advised that you say your goodbyes before moving to your new home._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Secretary to the Minister for Magic,_

_Serafina Finn.'_

'Well I'm getting sent to an island as suspected,' Remus said, trying not to let the tears spill out as he realised he would never see Sirius or Harry again.

Sirius frowned deeply as he opened his letter and cautiously read it.

'_Dear Mr. Sirius Black,_

_I am pleased to inform you that you are being relocated to District 2 as our Ministry officials have been able to trace your pureblood heritage back at least 4 generations. If you feel that you have reason to believe your pureblood lineage reaches 6 generations please come to the Ministry to dispute this. _

_You have been assigned a 5 bedroom detached house in Canterbury, within the English county of Kent. You are required to check in at the centre of Canterbury before 5pm on the 11__th__ of January 1982 where you will be officially assigned your new property and where you will be blood-tracked so that you may operate the wizarding house in all ways. This property comes with one house elf and you may bring your own house elf with you if you require. _

_District 2 is a prestigious district which will provide luxury items for the new capital London where the Minister for Magic and his most loyal followers will reside. You will be required to work as part of the district to provide this. However you will have a comfortable existence here._

_Communication will not be allowed once everyone has been relocated so it is advised that you say your goodbyes before moving to your new home._

_We look forward to seeing you soon._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Secretary to the Minister for Magic,_

_Serafina Finn.'_

'Well at least you'll have a comfortable existence,' Remus said bitterly, he had been reading Sirius's letter over his shoulder.

'I don't care about having a comfortable existence!' Sirius snapped as he threw the letter down on the table, 'I care about being with the people I love! I care about being with my friends!'

'I'm sorry,' Remus said quietly.

'So am I,' Sirius said.

'This is really happening, isn't it?' Remus asked, resting his head on the table.

Sirius gave a stiff nod, 'one week from today.'

'We should probably read Harry's letter,' Remus said as he picked it up and after a moment of thinking handed it to Sirius, 'you should open it, you're his Godfather.'

Sirius nodded and opened the letter carefully. He read through the letter inside quickly, praying he and Harry wouldn't be separated.

'_Dear Mr. Harry Potter,_

_Due to your Half-blood status you should be relocated to District 4. However due to the fact you are under 17 years old and are legally bound to a Godfather of magical birth and descent, this will be void for the moment. _

_You will be relocated to District 2. You are assigned a 5 bedroom property in Canterbury, Kent, with your Godfather Sirius Orion Black where you will reside until you reach 17 years of age. From this point you will be relocated to District 4 where you will reside with other Half-bloods._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Secretary to the Minister for Magic,_

_Serafina Finn.'_

'So he won't be with me forever,' Sirius said quietly.

'But for the next 16 years he will be,' Remus said, placing a hand on Sirius's shoulder, 'think about that for the moment.'

Sirius nodded and sighed deeply, 'I feel like after everything we went through we're losing each other too,' he said to Remus.

'I think that's what Voldemort wants,' Remus said darkly, 'to separate and divide the wizarding world. After all alone we're weak, together we're strong.'

'And he doesn't want another war,' Sirius said with a nod, 'I know his reasons, but it doesn't make this any easier.'

'No,' Remus agreed, 'it doesn't.'

* * *

The morning of the 11th of January was painful. Sirius was carrying Harry in one arm and had a rucksack that had all of his important belongings shrunken and inside. Remus was standing with a small bag that contained everything of importance to him.

The two friends were facing each other, aware they needed to leave, aware they needed to say their goodbyes.

'Are you sure you don't just want to run away?' Remus asked Sirius, 'take our chances and hope he doesn't come after us?'

'I can't do that to Harry,' Sirius said painfully, 'you were right. James and Lily died for a reason, they died to protect Harry. We can't jeopardise that.'

'I know,' Remus said, and he did, but he had hoped that Sirius might have changed his mind.

Putting Harry down on the floor Sirius crossed the room and hugged his best friend tightly, 'I promise we'll see each other again,' he said quietly.

'How can you know?' Remus asked tearfully.

'Because this won't last forever,' Sirius said, 'there will be a rebellion one day and I'd bet my life we'll both be involved in it,' his eyes were burning and for the first time Remus actually believed that they might see each other one day.

'Okay,' Remus said simply as he picked Harry up and kissed the little boy on the cheek, 'goodbye Harry,' he whispered, 'you grow up into a good boy for Sirius, you be a strong little warrior.'

'Don't worry, I'll make sure he is,' Sirius said with a faint smile as he took Harry into his arms.

'I should go,' Remus said reluctantly, 'or I'll miss check in.'

Sirius nodded and watched Remus walk to the door of the kitchen, 'goodbye Sirius,' he said with a final glance.

'Goodbye Remus,' Sirius said, his voice catching in his throat slightly as Remus spun on his heel and vanished. It only really dawned on Sirius then that he might never see Remus again, and that if he did it would be in many years' time.

Swallowing his pain Sirius made sure he had everything he needed and then he too apparated to his new home.

* * *

The new house was nice, but it was lonely and quiet for Sirius. He and Remus had been living together at Grimmauld Place for a good few months so he knew it would take some getting used to. It burned, the fact that Sirius couldn't just owl Remus or floo him if he wanted to talk, and the pain was terrible.

Sirius followed progress of Voldemort's plan in the prophet. A few people had been killed for not going along with the plan, but most had been afraid of dying and gone along with it for that reason. After what Voldemort had done to the Muggles who had defied him they knew that the threat of death if they did not relocate was serious. District 2 was nice, it was luxurious and it was full of pureblooded assholes. The fact that Sirius was here was shocking to a lot of the neighbours and then when they found out about Harry it was worse because of his half-blood status.

Sirius knew that they would be outcasts but frankly the thought didn't really bother him. He got a job, he worked at a factory making wands to be exported into London. Harry was looked after by the house elves when he was at work because Sirius knew he would be bullied and belittled at day care.

At work Sirius heard things about the other districts. District 1 was even more luxurious than this, they made weapons for Voldemort and his followers. They perfected new spells and did Merlin knows what else there, it was all very secretive. District 3 consisted of purebloods too, but they were of lesser status. They also worked to export things into London, they made furniture and broomsticks, but other than that not much was known. He heard that District 4 was where all the food was to be grown for the use of Voldemort and the rich in London, it was the district where the Half-bloods had been assigned to. He heard a lot about District 5 and how nobody really knew what it was going to be yet, he heard food was hard to come by there due to a spell Voldemort had cast which made the place permanently cold so that nothing could grow. It was where the Muggle-borns and Blood traitors had been sent. Old mines had been discovered there and from what Sirius heard murmured at work he assumed they were restoring them so the district could mine coal to heat fires and feed trains. The worst part of it all was that he didn't hear about District 6 where Remus had been relocated at all, all he knew was that it was where the Half-breeds had been sent to protect the rest of the wizarding race from them. He overheard a pretentious woman saying that it was no wonder they didn't manufacture anything because 'why would the residents of London want anything that had been made by filthy half-breeds anyway?'

Sirius kept his head down and got on with things, he worked, he got a pretty good wage, he fed Harry, he made sure to give him a good life and raise him right. Sometimes he wrote letters to Remus, he knew he couldn't send them. He had tried once but the owl just came back with the letter in its beak. Sirius had been in his new home for a couple of months when the next bombshell hit. It was another message from Voldemort on the front page of the prophet.

'**A MESSAGE FROM YOUR MINISTER FOR MAGIC'**

'_It has come to my attention that food is becoming scarce in certain districts. I have engineered a way to counter this that coincides with my latest announcement. _

_As of the school term beginning 1__st__ of September 1982, I will be enforcing a new rule at Hogwarts. As punishment to those who rebelled and fought a war against me I present to you a compulsory competition that will be called 'The Hunger Games'. This competition will occur annually at Hogwarts and it will be an aid to those in need of food. _

_The rules are clear. Each year 16 students will be chosen to take part. Those students will be entered into an arena which will vary from year to year where they shall fight to the death. Only one can win, and that winner will have riches to see them through the rest of their life more than comfortably as well as the finest house their district has to offer. Students will be eligible from the moment they begin Hogwarts until the moment they leave. 4 students will be chosen from each house, 2 girls and 2 boys. It is not possible to reject this position once chosen, if a student attempts to do this they will be punished accordingly. However it is possible to volunteer to take part in place of someone else who has been chosen. This will occur at the opening feast on the 1__st__ of September at a ceremony which shall be called 'the reaping'._

_Now onto the problem of a scarce food supply in certain districts. If this is the case for you and you have a child who is of Hogwarts age they can enter their name multiple times in the reaping in return for a sack of basic food supplies once every month for a year. In order to do this the person in question enters their name into the reaping once for each family member they require food for. Therefore someone not requiring food will have their name in the reaping once in their first year of school, and someone with parents and two younger siblings requiring food will have it in 5 times. This process can be repeated yearly but the amount of times the name has been entered does not start afresh at the beginning of a new year._

_With this understood the 16 students who will be called 'tributes' shall enter the arena and fight to the death. Viewing devices have been created that will be compulsory in every wizarding house, and every common room in Hogwarts. It is compulsory for all witches and wizards to watch the reaping, the lead up to the Hunger Game, the highlights of the Hunger Games and the winner's ceremony._

_Furthermore I understand that certain former rebels may try to defy me by not getting married and therefore not having children. However I will prevent this from happening. If a witch or wizard is not married by the time they reach 25 years of age they will be entered into a marriage contract with someone of equal or similar blood-status. Refusing to adhere to this marriage contract will result in death. All couples are required to have at least one child within 2 years of the marriage unless they can present medical proof of why they cannot achieve this. Failure to birth a child in this time will result in death. _

_May the odds be ever in your favour.'_

Sirius had to catch his breath as he finished reading the article. Harry wasn't even two yet, but one day he'd be at Hogwarts and he would be forced to be a part of this. At least he would never have to enter his name multiple times, Sirius would make sure they had enough money for food so that Harry would never need to put himself at more risk.

As the days passed there was murmuring at work. How could he do this to us? We followed him. We support him. It's our children he's putting at risk, not just the Muggle-born scum. Sirius stayed quiet and noticed those who insulted and spoke ill of the idea suddenly dropped out of work. He knew that they were constantly watched and listened to by the people who oversaw the factory.

In the days leading up to the first games Sirius grew nervous. Families like the Weasley's had at least one child at Hogwarts, he didn't want to see anything bad happen to them. Harry's second birthday came and went, the little boy had started calling Sirius Daddy which he had been forced to correct. His present had been a broomstick and he had happily zoomed about on it, he could speak now, and he could walk, and feed himself. He wasn't old enough to start asking questions yet but Sirius knew he would be some day and when the 1st of September came he made sure Harry was in bed early so he didn't need to watch the reaping.

It was horrendous. The stage at Hogwarts was converted. The students stood huddled, grouped into their separate houses which had now been shuffled around due to the new rule that all purebloods were automatically sorted into Slytherin. Bellatrix Lestrange stood on the stage, she looked far too happy and radiant in an emerald green dress with green tints in her jet black hair. She smiled around and welcomed the students to 'the first ever annual Hunger Games!'

She was cheerful as she waited next to a magical goblet called the goblet of fire. It began to spit out names, starting with the Gryffindors and Sirius was horrified when he heard 12 year old William (Bill) Weasley's name called out. He imagined Molly and Arthur at home, watching this with 10 year old Charlie and 6 year old Percy as their brother was called forward to a place where he would surely die. Sirius got some small comfort in that 3 year old twins Fred and George, 2 year old Ron and baby Ginny who was barely 1 year old would be safe in bed and wouldn't have to see this.

Sirius recognised the names of others who were chosen but he didn't know them personally. In the following days the kids were taken to London where all the lead up was to take place. Sirius had been forced to watch the ceremony as the tributes rode through the streets of a new wizarding London on floating carriages. Each carriage had four tributes, one for each house and the tributes were dressed according to the house they were in. The Gryffindor tributes had a very Lion based costume, the Slytherins were dressed in a beautiful material that was green and almost scaly, like a snake. The Ravenclaws wore bird-like costumes and the Hufflepuff's just looked embarrassed in puffy bright yellow outfits. Sirius had to watch as the tributes were interviewed before going into the arena, he watched as the host, Rita Skeeter, talked to them all happily about the games, like they should be proud to be a part of it.

Sirius did all he could to hide it from Harry when it truly began. The pain, the death, it was more than any child could bear, and Harry had already been through so much. It lasted for two weeks, and every night the highlights were forced upon the wizarding population, Sirius put Harry in his bedroom early and kept him there. Bill did well, he got to the final 3 but then he was killed by an older Slytherin, it had been brutal, the guy had broken his neck with his bare hands having lost his wand.

In the end a 6th year Slytherin won, and as the games went on and on, that pattern became very familiar, Slytherins, usually from District 1 or 2 often won, and Sirius knew they trained up the rich kids in these districts to prepare them in case they were chosen. It was against the rules but these people were rich, so nobody cared.

As much as Sirius tried to shield Harry from the games he grew up with them, he saw the pain and the death, and the blood, he saw people from his district gearing up, training, ready to go into battle. He lost his innocence because of the games, so already before he had even set one foot in Hogwarts, Voldemort had achieved what he wanted to achieve. By keeping them all down, and afraid, he was keeping them all entirely under his control.

And so it continued for the next 14 years…

**TBC :)  
**


	2. May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favour

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 2 - May the Odds be Ever in Your Favour**

'Hey guys,' Harry said as he slipped onto the luxurious steam training waiting at District 2's station.

'Woah, who let the half-blood in?' Theodore Nott joked as Harry sat down in a comfortable seat across from his friend.

Harry laughed and said, 'Sorry, does my odour disgust you?'

'You reek of half-blood,' Draco Malfoy teased from where he was sitting next to Theo.

'I know, the whole train must be smelling it,' Harry joked, going along with it. This was sort of their thing, they did it every year Harry got on the train, but he preferred it when people joked about him being a half-blood to when they bullied him for it.

The joking was a bit weaker this year though because there should have been four of them here, but there were only three.

Harry looked momentarily at the empty seat next to him and the flashbacks from the previous year bombarded him. He shut them out, the images of Neville at the reaping, of him bloody and bruised in the arena, of him lying cold as ice after someone had murdered him.

'Quiet without Nev, isn't it?' Draco asked in a strangled voice.

'Yeah, it doesn't feel right. Going to Hogwarts without him,' Harry said as the train pulled away from the station. He waved half-heartedly to his Godfather Sirius and his wife Amelia as they stood on the platform.

'It could be us this year,' Theo said thoughtfully, 'my names in 6 times today.'

'6 times for me too,' Draco said as he looked out of the window. They had a long train journey to Hogwarts.

'Same,' Harry said, also staring out the window at the English countryside, 'not that it matters. Nev only had his name in 5 times and he was reaped.'

Draco swallowed hard and nodded, and the trio were silent for a moment.

'Does our promise still stand Draco?' Harry asked his friend, 'about Scarlett?'

'Yeah, of course it does,' Draco answered, referring to Harry's sister Scarlett Black. She was 13 years old and about to go into third year. When Harry's Godfather Sirius had turned 25 he had been forced into a marriage contract with Amelia Bones and Scarlett was the product of that. Harry couldn't volunteer for her if she was chosen because he was in Gryffindor and Scarlett was a pureblood so she was automatically in Slytherin, just like Draco and Theo were, and like Neville had been until last year.

'She's lucky,' Theo said, 'I don't have anyone to volunteer for me.'

'Neither do I,' Draco said darkly, 'and neither does Harry.'

Harry shook his head as he thought about this. If his name was called out there would be no one to step forward for him. The friendship struck up between Harry, Draco and Theo was slightly odd but they had all grown up in District 2, slightly far afield but in the same district all the same. Draco's Father had died after the war so the family had lost their reserved place in the capitol and as a widow Narcissa's name was 'Black' which could only be traced back 4 generations instead of 6. Likewise Theo came from a pretty rich pureblood family but District 1 was really for the most prestigious, and the capitol was only for those who were directly involved with Voldemort and their families.

'Ah well, if we can make it two more years we'll be done with it,' Theo said, drawing Harry out of his thoughts.

'Yeah,' Harry said, trying to strike up some humour in them all again, 'happy hunger games,' he said.

'And may the odds be _ever _in your favour,' Draco and Theo finished with an amused smirk.

* * *

'Happy hunger games guys!' Hermione Spencer said in a fake excited voice as she hopped onto an old steam train that rattled and barely ran. She sat down in the uncomfortable seats next to her friends, there weren't any plush pillows or compartments.

'Do you have to sound quite so much like Bellatrix?' Elizabeth Ryan, Hermione's best friend and fellow Muggle-born asked.

'It's a skill,' Hermione said with a laugh.

'How many times is your name in today?' Justin Whitely, also a fellow Muggle-born and a good friend asked both girls.

'24,' Elizabeth answered glumly, 'the odds are definitely _not _in my favour.'

'12 times,' Hermione said, looking sympathetically at Elizabeth, 'but then there's only Rachel and me.'

Justin nodded, Rachel was a girl who Hermione wasn't related to but lived with and thought of as a sister. All three of them never knew their real parents because they were Muggles, so all three of them had been placed with other families. Justin hadn't grown close to his at all, Hermione had struggled with her parents but loved her sister and Elizabeth had bonded easily with her new family.

'I'm lucky I guess, my names only in 6 times,' Justin said, feeling guilty.

'It's the 15th games this year,' Hermione noted as the train took off, shaking and rattling as it did. There was nobody to see them off at the station, they were all at work, 'you know the deal. Every 5 years they shake up the rules. What do you think it will be this year?'

'Merlin knows,' Justin said, 'it could be anything.'

'The 10th games they chucked in twice as many tributes,' Elizabeth said, shivering at the thought.

'And the 5th games they didn't allow any magic at all,' Hermione said as she hummed thoughtfully.

'Whatever they do it will be brutal,' Justin said darkly.

'What's the bet on whose gonna be chosen this year?' Elizabeth asked, thinking about all of their classmates and friends.

'Oh come on, it's got to be another Weasley,' Justin said with a snigger, 'I mean there's only one lef-'

'Guys, shut up!' Hermione hissed as Ronald Weasley walked past them.

The redhead had heard them however and turned to them angrily, 'Oh don't worry about me overhearing your conversation, by all means carry on. It's not like all of my family have died in the games!'

Hermione glared at Elizabeth and Justin as Ron stormed away, 'That's not funny! He's lost 4 brothers and a sister to the games!'

Justin rolled his eyes, 'In times like this Mione we've got to get a laugh somewhere.'

'Then get it from this,' Hermione said with a smirk, 'think of all those pureblooded District 1, 2 and 3 assholes who have to spend the whole day on the train to get to school.'

Elizabeth chuckled, 'I think the only good thing about District 5 is how close the train station is to Hogwarts.'

'What?' Hermione asked sarcastically, 'don't you like the dusty old mines? Or the constantly frozen snow covered ground?' she mock gasped, 'not even the cold draughty houses?'

'What about the stale bread?' Justin asked, joining in, 'or the mouldy cheese? Or even the stews without any meat because we can't find any?'

Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief, 'you two are unbelievably sarcastic!'

Hermione laughed and echoed Justin's words, 'Oh you know Lizzy, in times like these we've got to get our fun somewhere. Happy hunger games!'

'And may the odds be _ever _in your favour,' Elizabeth and Justin said theatrically as the old train began to rattle and bump along the tracks so loud they could no longer hold a conversation.

* * *

'Here we go,' Hermione muttered to Harry and Elizabeth who were sitting on either side of her at the Gryffindor table. The feast had just finished and the tables were about to be moved aside for the reaping.

'How many times Mione?' Harry asked as they walked to the designated area of the hall for Gryffindors.

'12 this year. 6 for you, right?'

Harry only nodded. He had been friends with Hermione ever since their first year. Harry never fitted in, he was an outcast in District 2 for being a half-blood and he was an outcast in Gryffindor where most people were from Districts 4 or 5. Hermione had become his friend despite that, but other than that his only friends were Draco and Theo who were both Slytherins because of their pureblood status.

'Yeah,' Harry said quietly, 'but I'm worried for Scarlett.'

'Her name is only in 3 times Harry,' Hermione said with a smile, 'she'll be fine.'

'May the odds be ever in your favour ladies,' Harry whispered to Hermione and Elizabeth as the Gryffindor group split into boys and girls.

A few minutes later everyone was ready and silent. Bellatrix Lestrange took to the stage, showing off in a green dress with green highlights in her hair like she did every year. She smiled broadly at the children and said.

'Welcome to the reaping of the annual 15th Hunger Games!' Like always she seemed so happy and Hermione smiled when she saw Harry roll his eyes out of the corner of her eye.

'Now comes the time, boys and girls!' Bellatrix said excitedly, 'to pick two _brave _men and two _brave _women for the honour of representing their house in the 15th annual Hunger Games!' she gave a large smile to the students, but nobody smiled back.

Bellatrix spoke into the silence, 'As usual, we pick the tributes for Hufflepuff house first!' she said in her high-pitched voice, 'ladies first!'

The goblet of fire next to Bellatrix on the stage roared to life and from the yellow flames spat out a piece of paper, grinning Bellatrix picked it up and glanced down at it, 'Gabriella Valle!'

A timid Hufflepuff girl walked forward looking petrified, she could only have been 11 or 12, she didn't stand a chance. Bellatrix beckoned her up onto the stage where she stood her in front of the mentor for Hufflepuff tributes, Vivian Abbott who was the older sister of Hannah Abbott in Harry's year who had won a few years back.

'And our second female tribute from Hufflepuff house is…' Bellatrix said with anticipation as the goblet spat out another slip of paper. Once more Bellatrix looked at the slip and called out, 'Susan Bones!'

Harry frowned as he watched the redhead stand up and stroll confidently onto the stage. She was in his year but he didn't know her very well, he knew she was a half-blood and that she had grown up in District 4 because Sirius's wife Amelia was her Aunt but they had never seen each other for years because they lived in different districts. That was the extent of his knowledge.

'And now the gentlemen!' Bellatrix squealed as once more the goblets flames changed colour and it spat out a slip of paper, 'Ronald Weasley!'

Ron's face went pale as he got to his feet and walked onto the stage to stand with Gabriella and Susan. He managed to maintain his composure but he looked like he might throw up. Harry had never really talked to Ron, but he knew from what Sirius had told him that he hadn't had a great life. His oldest brother Bill had died in the first ever hunger games when Ron was just two, he probably didn't remember him much. Then his brother Charlie had survived the 8th games with devastating mental affects when Ron was just 9. To make matters worse his brother Percy had died in 10th games when Ron was in 1st year, he'd barely lasted 10 minutes because that had been the games when double the amount of tributes had gone in. He had once had twin brothers, Fred had died in the 12th games when Ron was in his 3rd year, then the following year his twin George had volunteered for the 13th games, wanting to die rather than live without his twin. Only last year Ron had lost his sister Ginevra who had been reaped in her 1st year and hadn't stood a chance against the older students. Now he was chosen himself to be a part of the games, he was one out of two children surviving from a family that had once had 7. Sirius had also told Harry that Ron's Mother was dead, after her twin boys had died she had lost it, had some sort of mental breakdown that resulted in her whole body shutting down. It was only Ron, Charlie and their Dad now, but they lived a pretty miserable existence.

* * *

'Fucking typical,' Arthur Weasley muttered, throwing a glass against the opposite wall as he watched his son walk to his death.

'7 children and every single fucking one of them reaped!' He stood up, angry and alone in the tiny shack he was assigned to District 5.

As he sank into his chair he felt lost. No wife, all of his children dead apart from Charlie and Ron. Now Ron was sure to die and Charlie probably wouldn't be far off, he was slowly killing himself with firewhiskey.

Who was he to judge? Arthur thought as he drank heavily from a glass of firewhiskey on the table by his chair. Maybe his son had it right, maybe drowning out the pain until the drink killed you was a good idea after all. Because really what did he have to live for? An alcoholic son who he hardly ever saw, and his last child who he had really thought might survive the games, now in them.

Arthur was sure there was a vendetta against them, he was sure that it was all planned. After all his family had been one of the most prominent in the war and then by coincidence all 7 of their children were chosen to fight in the games? 7 children in 14 years. He had voiced this opinion once in a pub when he was drunk and it had lost him his job, but with Charlie's winnings he managed to get by, just.

That was the irony of the whole thing, Bill was understandable, his name was in the reaping 16 times. Charlie, well that was inevitable as he was a 7th year and had asked for food for all 8 of his family members his name was in the damn thing 56 times. After Charlie had won however the family had enough money to survive without the need to put their names into the reaping multiple times. Yet Percy had been chosen with his name only in 5 times, then Fred with his name only in 5 times, George had volunteered so that had been his own fault. Then Ginny had been chosen in her first year with her name in there _once_! Now Ron, his name had only been in 6 times.

Arthur was sure there was a conspiracy, that the children of strong families were being killed off while the pureblooded Slytherins won and got all the glory, but nobody believed this or if they did they kept quiet about it because they didn't want to end up like him. A lonely old man living in a lonely run down shack with nothing but bitter memories and firewhiskey to keep him going.

* * *

Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly missed the last Hufflepuff tribute, but he tuned in just in time to hear Bellatrix shout out, 'Justin Whitely!'

Harry immediately looked over to Hermione who had gone incredibly pale as she watched an equally pale Justin walk onto the stage to join his fellow tributes. Justin was one of Hermione's close friends, they had known each other since they were kids.

'Our four brave Hufflepuff tributes!' Bellatrix exclaimed, Harry wasn't surprised that there hadn't been volunteers. Sometimes it happened for Slytherins, but nobody else really bothered with it.

'Next, Ravenclaw house!' Bellatrix said, moving to the other side of the stage, 'ladies first!'

The goblet spat out another name, now turning blue as it did so due to the change in the house. Bellatrix read this slip quickly and then shouted, 'Mandy Brocklehurst!'

Harry watched as a shy girl with brown hair and glasses walked forward tentatively. She was in their year but Harry had never spoken to her, all he knew was that she was a half-blood from District 4.

Mandy stood in front of Ravenclaws mentors, Roger Davies, a slightly weird guy who often stared into the distance for hours at a time, and Penelope Clearwater, a timid young woman who had won her games on sheer luck the year Percy Weasley had died.

'And our second female tribute from Ravenclaw house is…' Bellatrix said, holding her hand at the ready as the goblets flames turned blue, 'Luna Lovegood!'

Harry frowned as a girl he vaguely knew walked forward. She looked a bit crazy with long blonde hair and strange shaped earrings. She seemed nervous as she walked onto the stage and Harry clicked as to who she was. Most people called her Loony, she wasn't quite with it ever since she'd watched her Mother die, she was a half-blood from District 4. The poor girl didn't stand a chance.

'Our first gentleman will be…' Bellatrix said, swiftly catching the slither of paper that the goblet spat out, 'Terry Boot!'

Again Harry vaguely knew the Ravenclaw boy because they were in the same year. He strode forward confidently but looked pale as he joined Mandy and Luna by the mentors. Harry was fairly sure he was also from District 4 and knew he was a half-blood. Ravenclaws tended to be slightly higher up with most of them coming from District 4. There were some in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor but the majority of students in those two houses were from District 5.

'Finally….' Bellatrix said, the goblet spitting out once last Ravenclaw name, 'Jason Johnson!'

Harry didn't recognise the dark skinned kid who shakily made his way onto the stage. He looked about 5th year age and incredibly nervous, he was shaking all the way up to the stage and his hands kept shaking uncontrollably as he took his place with his fellow tributes.

Harry swallowed, it was Gryffindor's turn now. Bellatrix beamed as she said, 'and now for our _ever so brave _Gryffindors! Ladies first!'

Harry shut his eyes as the name came out of the goblet and prayed that it wouldn't be Hermione, it wasn't.

'Elizabeth Ryan!'

Harry's heart sank as he looked to Hermione, she looked like she might burst out crying. Her two best friends were going to be fighting each other to the death this year. Elizabeth walked up to the stage confidently, if a little pale. She swept back her dark hair and took a deep breath as she walked onto it.

Bellatrix gave her a fake smile and Elizabeth walked over to the Gryffindor mentor, Charlie Weasley, who was sitting on a chair looking drunk out of his mind. He had never stopped drinking since he got back from the Hunger Games he had won in his 7th year. That was 7 years ago now.

'And our second female tribute from Gryffindor house will be…' Bellatrix said in a fake sweet voice, Harry was biting his lip so hard it was almost drawing blood, _please not Hermione_, he kept repeating over and over in his head.

'Hermione Spencer!'

Harry's heart sank to the bottom of his chest as Hermione put a brave face on and strode up the stage, giving Bellatrix a fake smile and taking her spot next to Elizabeth. Both girls were close to tears as they gripped hands. Harry felt a fire burning inside of him as Bellatrix moved onto the boys, he was fighting a fight inside of himself as a 7th year half-blood by the name of Cormac McLaggen was picked as the first Gryffindor boy.

When the next name was called out he would volunteer, he'd protect Hermione, he'd die for her so she could win the games. He was ready, he was going to do it.

'And our last tribute from Gryffindor house is…' Bellatrix said, jumping up a little to catch the slip of paper, 'Harry Potter!'

Harry couldn't believe it when his name was called out. The person next to him had to give him a nudge so that he would walk forward to the stage. He had been planning on volunteering but he never thought his name would actually get called out. Harry felt sick as he thought of Sirius sitting at home watching this, watching his Godson walk up to his death. The walk felt like it took forever but eventually he was standing next to Cormac, he shared a pathetic smile with Hermione and saw the tears glistening on her face.

* * *

'No!' Sirius yelled as he heard his Godson's name called out. He had raised Harry, treated him like a son.

His wife Amelia whose maiden name was Bones, grasped his arm. She had already seen her niece Susan picked although she hadn't seen the girl since she was a baby. Amelia's sister had married a Muggle-born so Susan was a half-blood. The family had split, with Susan living alone with her Mother in District 4.

'Harry,' Amelia said quietly, she too saw Harry as a son because he had been 5 years old when she had married Sirius.

'He only had two years to go,' Sirius said as he watched his Godson walk onto the stage looking pale.

'He might do it,' Amelia said hopefully, 'he could win.'

'He won't stand a chance against the Slytherins,' Sirius whispered.

'But he might Sirius!' Amelia exclaimed, lowering her voice, 'he's from District 2. We raised him like a pureblood, he has the knowledge of that world. Not to mention the training. We had the money Sirius, he's had similar training to the likes of the Malfoy's and Notts.'

'Yes so he has a chance,' Sirius admitted, turning his desperate gaze on his wife, 'but if anyone from District 1 is chosen…'

Amelia swallowed hard and nodded, 'Then he won't make it.'

Sirius nodded, District 1, where the capitol engineered its weapons, its spells…people from District 1 knew things the others didn't, and because of that they almost always won.

'But Sirius, he could do it, you know he could. He's strong and brave, like his Father,' Amelia said, glancing to the picture of James and Lily on the fireplace.

'I know,' Sirius said, swallowing, 'but I don't want to get my hopes up and lose him Amy.'

'Neither do I,' Amelia said, grasping her Husband's hand and looking back to the screen.

* * *

Harry was beginning to zone the world out, but he stopped, Slytherin still had to be announced and he had to know that Scarlett would be okay.

'Finally, the tributes for Slytherin house!' Bellatrix said happily, 'ladies first!'

The flames turned green and spat out a bit of parchment which Bellatrix read from, 'Scarlett Black!'

'No!' Harry called out harshly, he couldn't stop himself, he was going to lunge forward but Charlie and Hermione stopped him.

* * *

'No!' Amelia shouted with Harry as her daughter's name came out of the goblet.

Sirius was also grasping her hand but he held it tighter, 'wait!' he said sharply.

Amelia frowned, not understanding what she was supposed to wait for, but then she realised as she saw somebody else stand up.

* * *

Harry's little sister, with her jet black hair and blue eyes got up looking terrified, she was about to walk towards the stage when a familiar voice shouted, 'I volunteer!'

Draco stepped out into the aisle, 'I volunteer as tribute,' he said calmly.

* * *

'Why would he do that?' Amelia asked, her voice still panicked.

'He's Harry's best friend,' Sirius said, a small smile coming to his lips, 'If it had been Regulus and I wasn't able to step up for him, I know James would have.'

Amelia was still stunned, her eyes on the screen but not taking it in, 'he did that for our daughter?'

'For Harry,' Sirius corrected, his eyes boring into the screen, 'if it wasn't for the fact purebloods were forced into Slytherin I think Draco Malfoy might have been a Gryffindor.'

'How is he going to cope Sirius?' Amelia asked in a very small voice, 'he's in there with his best friends. What if he has to kill Draco, or Hermione?'

'I don't know,' Sirius said honestly, looking back to the screen once more with dread in his eyes, and in his heart.

* * *

Bellatrix smiled at Draco and ushered him towards the stage. He walked there calmly with his head held high and when he reached Bellatrix she asked him his name, it was a formality of course, she was his Aunt.

'Draco Malfoy,' Draco said, he was the only one so far who was staying entirely calm and collected.

'And is there any reason you volunteered for that young girl?' Bellatrix asked in that same fake sweet voice.

'She's my cousin, she's too young, she would never have stood a chance,' Draco said boldly gaining some genuine smiles from people in all houses.

'Very noble of you, over there, with the mentors,' Bellatrix said, pointing Draco in the right direction.

'Thank you,' Harry mouthed to his friend as he passed. He stood with the two mentors for Slytherin, Lola Davis, an older sister of a Slytherin in their year called Tracey Davis who had won a few years back, and Sebastian Zabini, an older half-brother of Blaise Zabini, also a Slytherin in Harry's year.

'We now have one male tribute from Slytherin house! Our first female tribute is…' Bellatrix said, grabbing a piece of parchment from the green flames, 'Astoria Greengrass!

A scared looking girl with brown eyes and light brown hair was about to step forward, she looked about 14 years old, when someone else volunteered.

'I volunteer!'

The shout had come from a girl who was now standing up. Harry knew her because she and Draco were close, she was a pureblood from District 1 called Daphne Greengrass who had brown hair and blue eyes, and she was volunteering for her little sister.

'I volunteer as tribute.'

'Excellent!' Bellatrix said excitedly, mumbling something about how it was only ever Slytherins who had the boldness to volunteer, 'come on dear, up here then.'

Daphne shook a little as she walked forward, she was pale like everyone else and she also seemed a little stunned.

'Whats your name?' Bellatrix asked once Daphne was on the stage.

'Daphne Greengrass,' Daphne said in the strongest voice that she could muster.

'Ah,' Bellatrix said, her eyes flashing, 'and I'll bet that was your little sister?'

'Yes,' Daphne said simply, looking to Astoria who was being hugged by an older student and crying.

Bellatrix smiled once more and directed Daphne to where Draco was standing. He gave her a swift comforting look but didn't want to exchange any more with the cameras on them and the wizarding world all watching this on screens in their homes.

'Our second female tribute from Slytherin house will be…' Bellatrix said, catching yet another bit of parchment, 'Penelope Crouch!'

Harry felt so sorry for the girl that stepped forward. She was one of Scarlett's friends and was in the same year as her. 13 years old and she was flung into something as sick as this. She stepped forward carefully, she had blonde hair and green eyes, her face was pale and it was all she could do to nod at Bellatrix on her way past.

Ignoring the pain of this little girl Bellatrix continued happily, 'and now for the last male tribute!'

Harry and Draco's eyes both went to Theo who looked nervous, he had lost Neville the year before and now his remaining two best friends had been reaped.

The flames turned green and spat out the final name from the fire, 'Theodore Nott!'

Harry felt like he might throw up, and one glance at Draco told him that his friend was thinking the same thing. Theo remained confident as he walked onto the stage and took his place with the other Slytherins.

That was it, it was over. Harry found that in ways he didn't mind dying because almost everyone he loved would die with him anyway. In other ways he imagined horrible scenarios where everyone was dead apart from him and Draco and he had to kill his best friend. Or situations where him and Hermione were the last two alive and he was forced to kill the woman that he was in love with.

'Happy Hunger Games!' Bellatrix squealed excitedly, 'and may the odds be _ever _in your favour!'

* * *

After the reaping everyone was led into the antechamber behind the great hall and separated by house. Draco and Theo shared looks of horror with Harry, but they wouldn't get a chance to talk until they were in training together and a lot was to happen until then.

As the groups split it was to talk with the mentors about the upcoming games. Harry, Hermione, Elizabeth and Cormac felt a little bit lost sitting with the drunken Charlie Weasley. He was a mess with his long red hair tangled in knots and dark bags under his eyes. He smelled strongly of firewhiskey and his breath was rotten.

'So what happens next?' Hermione asked tentatively as she looked around at the other tributes who seemed to be getting advice.

'You all die,' Charlie said with a blunt laugh.

'Can you actually be helpful?' Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

'You lot get on a train and I've got to accompany you,' he rolled his eyes, 'all the 9 hours to the bloody capitol.'

'What happens after that?' Hermione asked anxiously. When you grew up seeing the games on screens in your house you only saw the bits the capitol wanted you to see, none of them had any idea what would happen next.

'After _that _you all die,' Charlie said, laughing again.

'Charlie!' Harry said angrily, 'why are you so hell bent on us dying?'

'Because you're Gryffindors,' Charlie said, barking a laugh, 'you always die! Do you ever see any Gryffindors wining? Nah, pureblood Slytherins on the other hand, you see that a lot.'

'You won, and you were a Gryffindor,' Cormac said with a glare.

'I was an exception, only two others have managed in 14 years,' Charlie said, swigging from a hipflask.

'And what happened to them?' Elizabeth asked anxiously.

'One girl she hung herself the minute she got home,' Charlie said casually, 'and the other boy…he stabbed himself to death a year after he got home.'

'Charming,' Hermione muttered under her breath which made Charlie bark a laugh, 'I like you darlin', you're funny. I hope you live longer than the rest.'

'He's such an asshole,' Elizabeth muttered as Charlie got to his feet. The other mentors and tributes were all leaving the antechamber through an exit on the other side.

'Come on,' Charlie said gruffly as Gryffindor formed the back of the pack.

'Where are we going?' Cormac asked as they emerged into a narrow stone staircase that went down pretty steeply.

'To die,' Charlie said, barking out another laugh.

'We'll be going to the train,' Harry said in an undertone as they made their way down the passage.

'Right, we're going to the train!' Charlie said as if he had just remembered this, 'aren't you a smart one?'

Harry frowned at these words but didn't have much time to contemplate them as they looked at the trains waiting in this underground station. The Slytherin tributes were boarding the first one, and Draco and Theo gave Harry a glum wave before they got on it. The train had about 8 carriages and the moment the doors closed it sped off so fast it almost blew Hermione off her feet.

'Wow!' Elizabeth said in surprise.

'That's a lot faster than the trains from District 5,' Hermione muttered.

Harry smiled a little, 'it's pretty similar to District 2's trains.'

'Shut up Potter,' Cormac hissed, 'you think you're better than us just because you live with all that pureblood scum?'

'He didn't mean that, he was just joking around,' Hermione said, glaring at Cormac.

Another train with 8 carriages pulled up and this time the Ravenclaws got on. It was the same as the last one, metal, fast and luxurious on the inside. The moment they were on the train sped away just like the last one.

A third train pulled up and the Hufflepuffs boarded, once more the train was exactly the same and sped away just as quickly.

'Finally,' Charlie muttered as the last train arrived. It looked exactly the same as the last three, with 8 carriages, a metal body and an interior that looked amazing. He led the way onto the train and the four Gryffindor tributes tentatively followed him. The train barely jolted or even moved when it sped off which stunned the Elizabeth and Hermione who had never seen such a thing in District 5. Cormac was stunned too, even though he was from District 4 where things were slightly better.

The room they had emerged into was like a large sitting room on a train. They sat down and were forced to watch the highlights of the reaping. Everyone was silent as Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and smiled at her, watching it back was painful.

'Alright,' Charlie said as he yawned, swigged from his hipflask and got up, 'tomorrow you four arrive in the capitol where they'll make you look pretty for the opening ceremony. After that you go to training, do the pre-games interview and go into the arena where you'll-'

'Die,' Harry and Hermione said simultaneously, 'yeah we get it Charlie,' Harry said sarcastically.

'Good,' Charlie said with a nod, 'try and get some sleep,' he added as he left the carriage.

The four Gryffindors were silent as they made their way up the train to the last two carriages where they all had large luxurious bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms. Harry had only just gotten changed and laid down in bed when the door to his bedroom creaked open and Hermione snuck in wearing her pyjamas.

'I can't believe we both got picked,' Hermione said as she curled up to her friend, 'I mean the odds were totally in your favour.'

'The odds are never in my bloody favour Hermione,' Harry mumbled, making his friend laugh.

'It's going to be horrible,' Hermione whispered as Harry drew her closer, 'I know.'

'There are so many people I care about in these games…Elizabeth, Justin…you.'

'I know,' Harry said quietly, 'and I understand. The three closest friends I have are in this mess,' he glanced at the girl in his arms, 'Draco, Theo…and you.'

'What are we going to do Harry?' Hermione asked despairingly.

'Honestly?' Harry said, 'we hope somebody else kills the people we love so we don't have too.'

'That's a horrible thing to say,' Hermione whispered sadly.

'But you know it's true,' Harry said, his voice dead and emotionless.

'Yeah,' Hermione whispered, closing her eyes and crying against her best friend.

'The most important thing is to stay strong,' Harry said as he hugged Hermione, 'and _never _let them see your weaknesses.'

Hermione nodded, scared and upset but with determination burning in her eyes.

'I guess the odds weren't in our favour after all,' Hermione whispered, moving closer to Harry and closing her eyes for what would be the most sleepless night she had ever had.

**TBC :)  
**


	3. The Gryffindors on Fire

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 3 - The Gryffindors on Fire  
**

When Harry woke up the next morning Hermione was gone so he dressed quickly and with a heavy sigh made his way down the train into the dining cart where Hermione, Elizabeth, Cormac and Charlie were all waiting, but he noticed as he sat down that nobody was eating very much.

'So,' Harry said, breaking the awkward silence, 'are you sober enough to give us some advice on how to survive?'

'First, you need to _not _be Muggle-born. Then you need to _not _be Half-blood. After that you need to be from as old a Pureblood family as possible,' Charlie said with a yawn.

'Well none of us can do that,' Hermione stated angrily, 'we're all Muggle-borns and Half-bloods!'

'Well you know what that means then,' Charlie said wickedly.

'Yeah we're all going to die, we get it!' Harry snapped, 'You're supposed to be our mentor Charlie! Can you give us some real advice or are just as useless as all your siblings?'

In a flash Charlie had grabbed Harry by his shirt and pressed him against the chair, 'well that's how _not _to survive in these games,' he said with a glare, 'to win you've got to get people to like you. If people like you then they'll sponsor you, and if people sponsor you they'll send things like medicine if you get hurt, or food if you're starving.'

He let go of Harry and said, 'and right now Potter, you're not doing a very good job of that.'

Harry swallowed and said, 'Sorry,' in a quiet voice very unlike his usual tone.

Charlie merely gave him a nod and sank back down into his chair.

'So we have to be likeable,' Harry murmured as the train began to pull into London.

'Wow,' Hermione said as she and Harry rose to look out of the window as they sped through a London that was very changed, it's name had even been changed to the capitol. The buildings were all new, and made of some kind of metal. As the train slowed and pulled into the station there were people everywhere who were excited as they waited for the trains with the tributes to arrive at the station.

'Play their game,' Harry muttered quietly to Hermione as he grinned and waved to the citizens of the capitol. Hermione was confused, but she trusted Harry so she did the same until it was time to get off the train.

* * *

Not long after they arrived at the remake centre where they were each separated and given a different team and a separate stylist. Harry had to spend hours getting washed down to make sure there wasn't a spec of dirt of him. Then his hair was washed multiple times and his eyebrows plucked and merlin knew what else. He stayed quiet and put up with it, not wanting to make things worse for himself by complaining. After what felt like an hour or two at least he was allowed to go into an office where he met an older woman with blonde hair.

'Good afternoon Mr. Potter,' she said happily, 'my name is Evelyn, I'm your stylist.'

'Oh,' Harry said with a smile, 'so you're going to dress me up for the opening ceremony?'

Evelyn smiled and said, 'that's exactly what I'm going to do. As you know we usually dress people in clothes relating to their house.'

Harry nodded and said, 'yeah, the poor kids last year had to wear lion suits.'

Evelyn laughed and said, 'Don't worry, I've got something better than that up my sleeve. Gryffindors never stand a chance because they never make a good enough impression, my team and I want to change that.'

'So I can get sponsors?' Harry asked, piecing it all together.

'Exactly,' Evelyn grinned, 'we're going to set you on fire.'

'With real fire?' Harry asked in surprise.

Evelyn laughed, 'No of course not, just magical flames, but it will look real enough. Think you can handle the heat?'

'Definitely,' Harry said with a smile.

* * *

By the end of the day as the opening ceremony drew closer all of the tributes came together in the inside garage where all the carriages were lined up ready to go. Finishing touches were being put on the outfits of those from Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff when Harry and Evelyn walked in and joined the others. They were all wearing similar outfits to Harry.

They wore golden suits that shimmered and there was a twist which would happen when the carriage actually joined the parade. Hermione and Elizabeth wore dresses instead of suits and they had light make-up on. Harry noticed everyone was looking a little nervous.

Harry's stylist Evelyn then starting telling them about the ceremony, 'Alright, Harry and Hermione you two at the front. Cormac and Elizabeth, you'll stand just behind them. Slytherin goes in first, then Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff and Gryffindor at the back.'

'Why am I at the back?' Cormac asked irritably.

'Originally it was because you two are taller,' the girls stylist Phillip said, 'but now you can go at the back just because you're being such an asshole. Shut up and do what you're told if you want to make it as far as the arena.'

Cormac shut up after that, and Harry, Hermione and Elizabeth sniggered slightly. Harry looked ahead at the Slytherins who were just getting into their carriage to leave. They were dressed in emerald and silver battle robes, and they looked far superior to the Gryffindors.

The Ravenclaws, who were just getting the finishing touches done, were dressed as Eagles with wings and everything, their costumes didn't vary very often from year to year. The Hufflepuffs had it a little better this year as they weren't dressed as badgers or in ridiculously puffy outfits. They wore bright, neon yellow dresses that looked like they might glow in the dark.

'At least our outfits are alright this year,' Hermione said, looking down at hers. Her hair was up in a fancy bun sort of hairstyle and she had subtle red eye make-up.

'You look great,' Harry admitted as he took in his best friend.

Hermione blushed a little and said, 'Thanks Harry.'

'Alright, onto the carriage,' Evelyn said as the Ravenclaws left and the Hufflepuffs got ready to go.

'Ready?' Harry asked Hermione as they climbed into the carriage after Cormac and Elizabeth.

Hermione nodded but looked terrified as she stood next to Harry in the front of the carriage, they were about to be paraded for Voldemort and the capitol, put on show for them, like animals. It was disgusting.

'The fire will activate when you get out there,' Evelyn said as the carriage began to move off to follow the Hufflepuff one, 'keep your chins up and good luck!'

Harry and Hermione nodded at the last piece of advice as the carriage left the inside garage and emerged into what had once been Buckingham Palace but was now transformed into Voldemort's home and the city centre where the tributes were presented to the citizens of the capitol. There was a long strip which the carriages rode down until they came to a stop in front of Lord Voldemort, who sat in a throne on a stage in front of his palace home. Lining either side of the strip were thousands of people, all dressed up and cheering and waving. These were the people who had been granted permission to live here either because they were from very pure families or because they had done Voldemort a favor in the war. Most of them were foreign European wizards who had financially helped Voldemort by helping to rebuild London after the war. They lived a life of pure luxury, entirely different to the rest of the country.

As the Gryffindor carriage began to move down the strip fake fire began to come out of the backs of their costumes, making it look they truly were on fire.

'Wow,' Hermione muttered as the crowd went absolutely wild.

Harry grinned and grabbed her hand, 'they'll love it,' he murmured as he raised their joint hands in a proud, victorious way. As predicated the cheers got louder, the crowd really did love it. Hermione smiled too, keeping a fierce face on as the carriage reached the end of the strip and entered the gates to the grounds of Buckingham palace. It came to a stop with the other three in front of the large stage.

It was then that Lord Voldemort stood up. Harry and Hermione had both seen him on television a few times, but never in the flesh like this. He didn't look entirely human with very pale skin, a gaunt face and dark red eyes. His black hair was slicked back as he waved to his people and smiled at them all.

'Welcome,' he said in a soft voice that was audible all the same, probably due to a sonorus charm, 'tributes, the citizens of the capitol welcome you. We celebrate your courage and salute your sacrifice. We all wish you a happy Hunger Games.'

Harry and Hermione were still gripping each other's hands as he spoke. A slightly evil smirk came to his lips as he said, 'and may the odds be ever in your favour.'

There was much applause and screaming from the citizens of the Capitol at their Lords words and Voldemort smiled once more before retreating to his throne as the carriages moved away into a different garage where the Gryffindors were met by Evelyn, Phillip and Charlie.

'That was amazing!' Evelyn said happily, 'everyone is going to be talking about it for so long! We definitely stood out!'

Harry and Hermione grinned at each other.

'So bloody brave,' Charlie said sarcastically as he drank from his hipflask, yet again.

'Is it even safe for you to be near an open flame?' Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.

'It's a magical flame darlin',' Charlie said swiftly, drinking once more from whatever strong smelling liquid was in his flask.

Harry smirked at this which made Hermione glare at him, Charlie continued, 'come on, let's go upstairs.'

The others nodded and followed him silently into a staircase that went up forever until they eventually reached a door with the letter 'G' emblazoned on it.

'This is us,' Charlie said as he opened the door and showed them into a large luxurious apartment.

'Wow,' Hermione said, as she stroked the pillows on a sofa that could seat about 10 people, 'I've never seen anything like this before.'

'Me neither,' Elizabeth said as she stared around the large apartment in shock. On this floor there was a large living area, a huge dining area and a kitchen. Then there were stairs leading up to a more private living area and other stairs that would probably go up to the bedrooms.

'It's amazing,' Cormac agreed as he sank down into the comfortable sofa.

Harry felt awkward because this luxurious apartment was nothing new to him. His house in District 2 was about twice the size and just as luxurious. He kept his mouth shut, not wanting to seem out of place or cause trouble.

'Don't you think its great Harry?' Hermione asked with a wide grin.

'Nah he's probably used to better than this,' Charlie said bitterly, 'the perfect little boy from District 2.'

'How'd you even get there anyway Potter? They hate Half-bloods there,' Cormac spat.

'My parents died,' Harry said, glaring at the others, 'if they had lived I'd have been in District 5 with my Muggle-born Mother. My Godfather's a Pureblood so I had to go live with him. I'm getting relocated to District 4 the second I turn 17.'

'Good luck with that,' Charlie said with a smirk, 'perfect little prince having to adjust to a life of poverty,' he laughed nastily.

'Shut up!' Harry snapped, 'I'll cope wherever I am! At least I won't be an alcoholic waste of space like you!'

'You probably won't live long enough to be an alcoholic of my caliber anyway,' Charlie said offhandedly.

'We might actually have a chance at this if you help us!' Hermione shouted in annoyance.

'You don't stand a chance and there's nothing I can do to help that, darlin,' Charlie said as he rose to his feet, 'go to bed, you start training tomorrow.'

Annoyed with their supposed mentor the group of four made their way upstairs into their separate bedrooms.

'Night Harry,' Hermione said with what she could muster of a smile before she disappeared into her room.

'Night,' Harry said to the empty corridor as he too entered a room very similar to his bedroom back home. He changed and lay down in bed, fairly sure he would have yet another sleepless night.

* * *

The next morning was a miserable affair as everyone attempted to eat. They were then led down a lot of stairs to the basement level floor where they were given costumes for training. These consisted of black suits with a red stripe down the side.

'You wanted advice? I'm gonna give you it,' Charlie muttered to Harry and Hermione as Elizabeth and Cormac changed into their suits, 'you all train together for a while then you can choose to separate, but the main thing is this. Don't let them see your strengths in training, save that for your personal training time.'

'Why aren't you telling Cormac and Elizabeth this?' Hermione asked in an undertone.

'Because he knows they won't survive as long as us,' Harry answered, understanding the way Charlie thought more than Hermione did, even if he thought the guy was an asshole.

'How can you judge that? You don't know them! And you're drunk all of the time anyway!' Hermione hissed angrily.

'Drunk or not I know a good tribute when I see one,' Charlie said nonchalantly, 'and you two are good, better than most that Gryffindor spits out. You might have a chance, but you've got to drop the dead weight.'

'We'll never do that!' Hermione said quietly, 'they're our friends!'

Harry nodded, but already a plan was coming together in his head. Charlie was right, Elizabeth and Cormac were dead weight and they didn't stand a chance against some of the others in the games.

'People will try and make alliances with you, deals,' Charlie added, 'I'd stick to keeping it between just the two of you.'

'Why?' Hermione asked.

'Because all deals and alliances end, and we'd probably end up getting ourselves killed,' Harry said.

'Listen to the half-blood, he's smart, he might just keep you alive,' Charlie said to Hermione.

'Why do you hate me so much?' Hermione asked irritably, 'is it because I'm a Muggle-born?

'I don't know if you noticed but my whole family are…were…blood traitors. I don't give a crap about blood status, I just hate everybody darlin',' Charlie said as he began to walk away, 'have fun at training!'

Hermione rolled her eyes as she and Harry walked into the large room in the basement where there were all different sorts of things set up. The Slytherins were all there in their black suits with green stripes, as were the Ravenclaws who had blue stripes. The Hufflepuff's with their yellow stripes were just filing in at the back with Elizabeth and Cormac.

With everyone ready and together Marcus Flint, a Slytherin and a previous victor stepped forward to address them all, 'In two weeks only two people in this room will be left alive, me, and one of you,' he said in a gruff voice, 'the other 15 of you will be dead, probably killed gruesomely all for the entertainment of our beloved country. The one who survives will be the person who pays attention the most in the next few days of training. There are some rules however, first of all, don't fight with the other tributes, you'll have more than enough time for that when you get into the arena.'

Daphne Greengrass, the only person here from District 1 smirked at this and Hermione swallowed hard. Marcus surveyed them all, 'there are four compulsory stations; accuracy, power, stamina and survival skills. I wouldn't ignore survival skills if I were you, most tributes die from natural causes like exposure to extreme hot or cold temperatures or dehydration...for the next few days you will have time to train yourselves up, use this time wisely.'

With the speech over the group split, Cormac immediately went over to the station for the power of spell-casting. Harry, Hermione and Elizabeth stuck together as they made their way over to the survival station where they learned which plants were edible and which could kill you or cause hallucinations. Then they touched up on simple concealment charms like a disillusionment charm. The last thing to do was to learn how to start a fire, Harry just automatically used a spell and Hermione frowned at this.

'What if you don't have a wand?'

Harry laughed, 'Hermione, I'll have my wand.'

'What if you lose it?' Hermione said, 'you might, then you won't know how to start a fire.'

'Alright then Mudblood,' Theo spat from behind Hermione, 'how do Muggles start fires?'

'I won't tell you,' Hermione said darkly, 'and I'll hope you freeze to death.'

Harry shook his head as Hermione swiftly walked away, 'you know she's my friend Theo.'

'Friendship doesn't mean much in here,' Draco muttered as he joined them.

'So you're just gonna kill me now are you?' Harry asked darkly, 'after years of friendship?'

'I hope it doesn't come to that,' Draco said honestly, 'we're recruiting Harry, you gonna join us?'

Harry shook his head, 'I can't,' he said honestly, 'I've already agreed to an alliance.'

'You can have more than one,' Theo said with a raised eyebrow.

Harry glanced around and when he was sure Hermione was out of hearing range he said, 'alright, once Elizabeth and Justin die I'll join your alliance, but there's a condition.'

'The Mudblood can be in it too,' Draco said a little distastefully, 'if that's the price we have to pay for you.'

'It is,' Harry said firmly, 'good luck with the rest of training.'

'You too Harry,' Draco said with a heavy sigh, 'I'm sorry it came to this.'

'Yeah, so am I,' Harry said honestly.

The rest of the day was spent practicing at the other stations. Harry listened to Charlie's advice and tried to downplay the power of his spell-casting and his stamina because those were his strong points. His accuracy was pretty good too, Sirius had been training him up in the basement of their house during school holidays.

Hermione was downplaying her skills at the accuracy station too, and at the stamina station. Nobody knew it but he had been training her in empty classrooms around Hogwarts during Christmas breaks and whenever they had a spare minute from classes just in case she was chosen in the reaping. Charlie was right, between them, maybe they did stand a chance, but one of them would have to die in the end.

As they trained in the concrete bunker they were watched by the gamemakers who sat on a luxurious balcony with a shield charm separating them from the tributes. On the first day they all had to pull themselves across a concrete slab with rings on it, swinging from ring to ring with a pretty big fall to a hard floor if they let go. Most people managed it okay but Jason Johnson, the 15 year old Ravenclaw let his hand slip and fell to the floor, hurting his ankle and getting laughed at by the likes of Daphne and Theo.

The day was tiring, emotionally and physically and by the time dinner came around only Harry and Hermione showed up.

'Where are the others?' Hermione asked with a frown.

'Hospital wing,' Charlie replied with a smirk, 'the boy twisted his ankle and the girl hit her head. Told you they were dead weight.'

'Shut up,' Hermione snapped.

'Sourced out your competition yet?' Charlie asked, ignoring Hermione.

'The Slytherins, and a couple of others,' Harry said quietly, 'Draco Malfoy looks pretty lethal.'

'Yeah, he would,' Charlie said, 'You know he's a career, don't you?'

Hermione said, 'I thought they were the rich kids from District 1.'

'And 2,' Harry said quietly.

Charlie nodded, 'they train at a special academy during the summer, it costs a fortune so only the richest can do it. They volunteer a lot of the time around their 6th or 7th year. By that point they're pretty deadly.'

'They don't get any special treatment,' Evelyn, the stylist chipped in, 'don't worry about that.'

'No special treatment apart from all the training they get,' Hermione muttered.

'I've had some training,' Harry admitted to Charlie, 'my Godfather could never afford the special academy's, but he trained me in the basement of our house.'

'Good,' Charlie said as he chewed his food, 'you might actually have a chance at this kid.'

'I'm screwed,' Hermione muttered, 'the only training I've had is what Harry taught me in Christmas holidays.'

'Some trainings better than what most District 4 and 5 kids get,' Charlie said darkly, 'even District 3 don't get that kind of special treatment and they're purebloods too.'

'So how good are they?' Hermione asked with a frown.

'Good,' Harry replied, 'they win the games almost every year.'

Charlie nodded, 'You'll know that yourself, Slytherins always have the best chances in the games.'

'They must have weaknesses,' Hermione said, fishing for something.

'They can be cocky,' Charlie said carefully, 'and that can be a big problem in these games.'

Harry nodded, thinking this over.

'So Potter, I hear you've got good power behind your spells?' Charlie said, sourcing out their weaknesses and strengths.

'I'm alright,' Harry said with a shrug, 'my Godfather trained me in power mostly and stamina.'

'What about you Spencer?' Charlie asked, surveying Hermione, 'you're pretty skinny like you never eat proper, must be pretty weak.'

'I'm not!' Hermione said as she glared at him, 'I hunt to feed my family so my accuracy is pretty good.'

'Alright, we can work on that,' Charlie said thoughtfully.

'She's downplaying it,' Harry said with a smile, 'she's great in a duel.'

'A fake duel,' Hermione said darkly, 'that's not gonna help me here.'

'It might give you a better chance of winning if-' Harry began.

'I have no chance of winning!' Hermione exclaimed as she got to her feet, 'none at all! Everybody knows it! Even Elizabeth said that Gryffindor might have a winner this year, but she wasn't talking about herself, or me, or Cormac! She was talking about you!'

Harry stared at Hermione in surprise, unable to speak. She rolled her eyes and left the room, leaving it in an incredibly awkward silence.

As Hermione lay in bed thinking about her inevitable death she couldn't help but flashback to how she and Harry had first met, when Harry had saved her life.

_It was October at Hogwarts and still incredibly cold both inside the castle and out. Hermione was only in 1__st__ year, 11 years old. She didn't have many friends in Gryffindor apart from Elizabeth, Seamus and Dean who she'd grown up with in District 5. Nobody seemed to talk to the quiet boy in the corner with glasses, he was from District 2, he didn't belong with them here. That's what everyone said anyway._

_Hermione left the common room that night and got lost in amongst the maze of corridors that was Hogwarts. She accidentally came across the hide-out of a group of Slytherins. They were brewing illegal potions in a bathroom and when Hermione caught them they were sure that she would give them over to the Headmaster, Severus Snape._

_They had her cornered and Hermione was frozen, too afraid to move or even speak as the 3 older Slytherin boys all had their wands on her._

'_Leave her alone!' a voice said from the doorway and Hermione was surprised to see Harry there, holding his wand and glaring at them._

'_Get lost Potter you filthy little Half-blood,' the leader of the gang said, making the rest laugh._

_In minutes Harry had taken down all of them and Hermione was standing there like an idiot gaping at him._

'_Are you okay?' Harry asked when he walked across to her._

_Hermione nodded, still in shock, 'how did you do that?'_

_Harry shrugged and said, 'my Godfather has been training me up in case they choose me for the games.'_

'_Oh,' Hermione said, 'you're from District 2.'_

_Harry nodded, 'Only because my Godfather is Pureblood and I have to live with him because my parents are dead.'_

'_Oh,' Hermione said with a frown, 'I don't know my parents either. I was assigned a new family because they were Muggles.'_

'_Oh, I'm sorry,' Harry said as he and Hermione walked towards the door._

'_Why? It wasn't your fault,' Hermione said with a smile, 'thanks for saving my life.'_

'_No problem,' Harry said with a smile, 'thanks for not hating me because I'm from District 2.'_

'_Well you saved my life, I can hardly hate you after that,' Hermione said as she laughed._

'_Does that make us friends?' Harry asked hopefully._

'_I guess so,' Hermione said thoughtfully, 'if you want us to be.'_

'_I'd like that,' Harry said simply and Hermione smiled broadly at him._

Hermione sighed as she lay on her stomach in bed, from that day they had been friends and they had never fought until today. She sighed heavily once more, she hoped Harry could win so that Gryffindor could have at least some glory since Charlie didn't provide any.

She knew Charlie knew Harry was his best chance, he was favouring him, giving him tips, joking around with him. Hermione stood no chance, especially since she was fairly sure her mentor hated her.

**TBC :)  
**


	4. The Final Countdown

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 4 - The Final Countdown**

The morning after their first fight Harry and Hermione agreed to hug and make-up, and Hermione admitted she probably shouldn't have shouted or over-reacted so much. Harry had said he deserved it, and for what it was worth, he thought she could win.

With everything amended they went to training where there was more practicing of the accuracy of their spells, and practicing different sorts of spells, charms, curses, jinxes. Anything went in the arena, even the unforgivable curses. They weren't exactly unforgiveable anymore anyway. Voldemort used them all, his guards used the cruciatus curse in the districts to torture people, and the killing curse was used regularly for executions. The worse one was the imperius curse which Voldemort himself was particularly skilled at. Traitors who didn't get killed were instead put under the imperius curse and forced to do Voldemort's bidding for the rest of their lives as slaves.

Harry and Hermione kept their heads low, trying not to show off their skills although Harry accidentally hit the highest rating at the spell-power station after a couple of people laughed at him for falling off of the climbing wall. This drew looks of surprise and interest from a lot of people, and Harry cursed inwardly. He'd done exactly what Charlie had told them not to do.

There were more obstacle courses, climbing, running, jumping, testing and training the physical stamina of the tributes. Harry and Hermione were both more than passable but Justin and Elizabeth struggled. They had alright spell casting, but neither of them had much power or stamina. Cormac thought he was great but Harry was fairly sure he'd die pretty quickly.

Harry knew from watching the games every year that there was an initial bloodbath at the start when everyone ran in for supplies at the centre of the arena where the tributes all started. The careers survived it with all the supplies, the sensible kids ran away. A lot of people died in that initial bloodbath, usually about half of the tributes. He had a nasty feeling Cormac would be one of those people.

With the day over they all gathered for dinner. Elizabeth and Cormac were actually with them this time. Charlie was explaining what would happen the following day, 'Tomorrow you'll get called in one by one. Slytherin first, Ravenclaw second, Hufflepuff third and Gryffindor last. You'll each get evaluated and scored out of 12, the higher the rating you get the more sponsors you'll get so take this seriously. This is the time you show them everything you've got, don't hold back.'

Harry nodded, thinking this all over in his head, 'any other advice?'

'With the other houses all going first the gamemakers will be bored by the time it gets to Gryffindor so make sure you grab their attention. Whatever you do, make it memorable,' Charlie advised.

Everyone was listening carefully to this and they all nodded as he spoke. Shortly after this little speech Charlie left and Harry, Hermione, Elizabeth and Cormac all made their way upstairs to bed for yet another troubled night.

* * *

The next morning nobody ate much and when the clock hit 9am they all made their way down to the basement where everyone was sitting around in a concrete corridor. Penelope Crouch, the 13 year old was first, then Daphne Greengrass, and after that Draco. Theo was last for the Slytherins then the Ravenclaws were called in. Terry Boot was first and Mandy Brocklehurst followed him, then Jason Johnson was called in and Luna Lovegood was last. From what Harry had seen the 'careers' were going to be Draco, Daphne and Theo, he was also pretty sure they'd recruit Terry and Susan who had both showed quite a lot of skill in training. He and Hermione had an alliance with Elizabeth and Justin, but he didn't know about the others. He had seen Luna in training, she wasn't remarkable but she was fast and witty which might get her somewhere. The Hufflepuff's were next and Susan Bones was first, followed by Gabriella Valle, the 12 year old girl. Then it was Ron Weasley who got called in, equally Harry saw Ron as a contender, he was strong and his spell casting wasn't bad, but he seemed to have the survival skills that a lot of others lacked. The last person to be called in was Justin, and although she didn't say anything even Hermione knew that her friend didn't stand a chance considering what they were up against.

Finally it was time for the Gryffindors to start filing in for evaluation. Since it went in alphabetical order Harry was first, he got to his feet and took a deep slightly shaky breath.

'Good luck Harry,' Hermione said as Harry disappeared into the concrete basement. When he walked in he saw a shooting range and a power radar, it was all set up for his strengths. Nobody was paying any attention at first as Charlie had predicted. Harry shot a cutting curse into each dummy, slashing the neck of them all. It portrayed accuracy, and it also showed he could kill in seconds if he wanted to. The gamemakers were still too busy laughing and talking to notice so getting irritated Harry sent fire spells towards each dummy, setting each one alight and putting the flames out just as fast. This caught the attention of the gamemakers finally so Harry decided to show off his spell power.

He cast a spell so powerful at the radar it was almost off the chart, then in seconds he smashed a giant boulder into smithereens. Needless to say the gamemakers seemed impressed. Finishing off with stamina he kept going for 15 minutes with constant spells aimed at dummies and shield charms as if he was in a mock duel. It was only a fraction of what he could do but he hoped it would show the gamemakers his strengths.

When he was finished he thanked them and left the room through a different door where he met Evelyn who told him to go up to the apartment and wait for the others and Charlie there.

The wait in the apartment seemed to take twice as long as the wait to be evaluated did. Cormac appeared next and boasted about he thought he had done pretty well. Elizabeth came after him and said she thought she had done a passable job but she didn't think she'd get a very good score.

Finally Hermione entered the room and Harry asked her straight away, 'How did you do?'

Hermione opened her mouth to reply when Charlie walked into the room laughing, he grinned at Hermione and said, 'nice accuracy darlin'.'

Hermione smirked a little and Charlie laughed once more, 'what did they do? When you incinerated their prize pig?'

Still smiling a little Hermione said, 'well they were pretty shocked.'

Charlie threw his head back with his laughter, 'Oh? Were they?' he cackled some more.

Hermione chuckled and Charlie, still laughing asked, 'What was it you said? Thanks for…'

'Thanks for your attention,' Hermione mumbled trying not to laugh herself.

'Classic!' Charlie said, laughing once more.

'You incinerated their pig?' Harry asked in amusement.

'They weren't paying attention to me,' Hermione said with a smirk, 'so I thought I'd find a way to get them to.'

'That's great,' Harry said with a chuckle, 'Told you that your spell casting was great Hermione.'

'I don't know if they're going to find this funny,' Evelyn warned them all, 'the gamemakers might take it out on you.'

'I don't really care if they do,' Hermione said nonchalantly, 'I'm gonna be dead soon anyway.'

'Don't talk like that,' Harry said quietly as they were all called to dinner. Nobody ate much, or talked much over dinner, they were all too nervous about the scores.

Once they had all eaten they gathered on the large sofa and watched as the viewing device lit up with the face of the games, Rita Skeeter. Her hair was bright pink this year as she welcomed everyone to the scoring show excitedly and adjusted her purple glasses.

'As you all know,' she said, 'each tribute will be scored on a scale of 1 to 12.'

She began with the Slytherins, 'Penelope Crouch, a Slytherin from District 2!' she announced as a picture of the blonde haired, green eyed girl appeared on the screen behind her, 'achieved a score of 5!'

'Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin from District 1!' Skeeter said as Daphne's picture appeared behind her, looking lethal and gorgeous, 'a score of 10!'

'Career, definitely,' Harry mumbled as Skeeter continued, 'Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin from District 2…with a score of 10!'

'Also a career,' Hermione chipped in miserably.

'Theodore Nott, a Slytherin from District 2…with a score of 10!' Skeeter announced.

'And he's a career too,' Elizabeth said glumly.

'Onto the Ravenclaw tributes!' Skeeter chirped, 'Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw from District 4…with a score of 8!'

'So the careers probably did recruit him,' Harry muttered to Hermione.

'Mandy Brocklehurst, a Ravenclaw from District 4…with a score of 5!'

'She won't last long,' Hermione said as Skeeter continued, 'Jason Johnson, a Ravenclaw from District 4…with a score of 6!'

'And neither will he,' Elizabeth said under her breath.

'And Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw from District 4…with a score of 7!'

'I think that's deceiving,' Harry said with a frown, 'she's very intelligent. I think she might get a bit further.'

'Hmm,' Hermione said thoughtfully as Skeeter moved onto the Hufflepuff's, 'Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff from District 4…with a score of 9!'

'She's definitely been recruited by the careers too then,' Hermione said, it was another one they had wondered about.

'Gabriella Valle, a Hufflepuff from District 5…with a score of 5!'

'No chance,' Elizabeth sighed sadly.

'Ronald Weasley, a Hufflepuff from District 5…with a score of 8!' Skeeter chirped.

'8…he might be a contender,' Hermione said with some surprise. Weasley's didn't rate well in the games usually.

'He won't win it,' Charlie said darkly.

'Do you have conflicting feelings this year?' Harry asked curiously, 'about the games I mean, since your brother is in them?'

Charlie just shrugged and said, 'Only one Weasley has ever won the games and I don't think another ever will.'

It was clear that he didn't want to talk about it so nobody said anything more as they looked back to the screen.

'Justin Whitely, a Hufflepuff from District 5…with a score of 4!' Rita said happily.

'Poor Justin,' Elizabeth said at the score, 'he won't get any sponsors.'

'Our turn now,' Harry said heavily as Rita began on the Gryffindor tributes, 'Harry Potter, a Gryffindor from District 2…with a score of 10!'

'10!' Hermione said happily, 'well done Harry that's up there with the careers!'

Harry grinned, impressed with his score, Charlie nodded and even gave him a small smile, 'Not bad Potter.'

'Cormac McLaggen, a Gryffindor from District 4…with a score of 6!'

'6?' Cormac raged, 'I deserved better than that!'

'6 is good,' Evelyn said quickly, 'we can work with a 6.'

'Elizabeth Ryan, a Gryffindor from District 5,' Skeeter said, and Elizabeth went pale, 'a score of 7!'

'7's good,' Evelyn said with a smile and Hermione nodded, 'she's right Lizzy. Most Gryffindor's are lucky to get above 6.'

Elizabeth nodded, not looking entirely convinced. It was time for the final name to be called out and the final score to be given, 'and finally,' Rita said, 'Hermione Spencer, a Gryffindor from District 5…with a score of 11!'

'11!' Harry exclaimed happily, 'well done Hermione!' he said as he grinned at her.

Hermione couldn't contain her grin, 'I thought they hated me!'

'They obviously admired your guts,' Charlie said with a smirk, 'off to bed the lot of you,' he added as the screen went black, 'you have your interviews tomorrow and we need to make sure you know how to deal with public appearances.'

* * *

Later that night, when Hermione couldn't sleep she made her way downstairs into the living room where she was surprised to see Charlie sitting on the sofa.

'Can't sleep either huh?'

Hermione shook her head and sank down next to him on the sofa, 'I haven't been sleeping great for a while.'

'You should try,' Charlie advised, 'you've got an early start tomorrow, and a long day.'

'Why? What's happening?' Hermione asked curiously.

'Well tomorrows the last day and they let us train with our own tributes then, so you and I are going down at 9am,' Charlie explained.

'What about the others?' Hermione asked with a frown.

'Elizabeth and Cormac refused the extra training, and Harry wants to do his separately,' Charlie said simply.

'Why?' Hermione asked, feeling hurt that Harry wanted that.

Charlie shrugged and said, 'this does tend to happen right about now. After all, only one can win, right?'

'I guess,' Hermione said as she went off into a daze, 'you're right, I probably should try and sleep,' she said as she got to her feet and went back to her bedroom, still feeling hurt that Harry didn't want to train with her anymore.

* * *

The next day was pretty simple, a training session with Charlie in the morning and then the rest of the day spent with her stylist Phillip who was attempting to teach her how to walk in a dress and high heels for the pre-games interview that night.

'I'm not any good at this stuff,' Hermione said as she finally managed to walk in the red high heels she was wearing. She was still getting used to the dress, even though it was lovely. It was scarlet and gold, Gryffindor's colours, and when she spun around the bottom would fan out and the sparkling gold would create the illusion of fire.

'You'll be fine,' Phillip assured her with a smile, 'just stay calm and answer the questions.'

'I thought I had to seem funny and appealing,' Hermione muttered as she sat down in the heavy dress.

'Not necessarily,' Phillip said carefully, 'every tribute approaches their interview in a different way. Some are cocky, others try and be funny or likeable.'

'Well what am I supposed to do?' Hermione asked despairingly, 'I'm not cocky, funny _or _likeable.'

'You are stunning however,' Phillip said, admiring his handiwork as he looked at her outfit and make-up which was of a fiery theme once more, 'and while that won't quite be enough it _will _help.'

Hermione smiled slightly and thanked her stylist.

'Just try and be yourself, that's the best advice I can give you,' Phillip said honestly as Hermione got prepared to go to the stage where she would sit around waiting until all of the other tributes had been interviewed.

When she got there she was seated with Harry, Elizabeth and Cormac. Harry avoided meeting her eye and she didn't try and speak to him, she was still angry about the fact he had asked to be trained separately without talking to her about it first. Harry and Cormac both wore simple black suits with white shirts and red ties, Elizabeth was dressed similarly to Hermione although her dress was slightly shorter and was just plain scarlet without the gold.

As they waited they watched the other tributes being interviewed on a large screen. Each interview was 3 to 5 minutes long so they were waiting for a while. Penelope Crouch went first, it was clear she was nervous but she said she was as prepared as she could be for the games and that she was proud to be representing her family.

Draco was up next and he took the typical pureblood cocky approach to the interview.

'Yes, I'm about as prepared as I could ever be,' Draco said with a smile.

'And do you have a plan worked out for the arena yet?' Rita asked.

'I have ideas,' Draco said with a smile, 'but it's hard to judge when we don't know what the arena will be like.'

'Of course, of course,' Rita said, nodding vigorously, 'and do you think you can win it?'

'Of course I do,' Draco said with a grin, 'why would I have volunteered if I didn't?'

Theo was next, and his interview went along similar lines. Harry felt sick as he watched this, he had known these people for years but he was seeing horrible sides of them and he hated it.

'So Theodore, I hear you're a fighter?'

'I'm a fighter,' Theo confirmed, 'I'm vicious, and I'm willing to do whatever to win, for my District and my family.'

'So you're ready for the arena?' Rita asked, smirking at the boy.

'Yeah definitely, 100% ready,' Theo answered confidently.

Like her fellow pureblood Slytherins Daphne took a cocky, but also sexy approach to her interview as she was up last for the Slytherins.

'Daphne, are you prepared?' Rita Skeeter asked with a big toothy smile.

'Yes Rita,' Daphne said with a grin, 'I'm _very _prepared.'

'Ah self-confidence,' Rita said happily, 'that's good, very good! Do you have any hidden tactics?'

'I do,' Daphne smirked, 'but I'm hardly going to share them with you now, am I?'

Rita smirked back at this, 'Very wise Daphne,' she said.

Luna Lovegood was up first for the Ravenclaws and her interview was actually quite interesting.

'Now there's been some talk that back home you were called 'Loony?' Rita asked with a smile.

'Oh yes, very often,' Luna said as she nodded.

'Does being here make you want to prove those bullies wrong?' Rita asked.

'It does,' Luna replied with a smile, 'I think people will be surprised by me. When people think you're crazy they always seem to underestimate you.'

'Ah so you've been playing crazy? That's your tactic?' Rita asked with a grin.

Luna shrugged and said, 'I don't know. I don't even know what crazy is. I like to think of myself more as odd.'

There was some laughter from the crowd as the interview wrapped up, Harry still had a pretty good feeling about Luna Lovegood.

After this Terry was up for his interview.

'Yeah I'm pretty smart,' Terry said casually, 'and I think that's going to come into play in the arena.'

'Oh yes, intelligence is just as important as courage or skill,' Rita said with a nod.

'That was my logic, so I want to apply my intelligence to get me through.'

Jason Johnson was also pretty nervous as he said he wanted to win for his family, his house and his District and that he would do everything in his power to win. He appeared pretty weak in the interview and that combined with his score gave Harry and Hermione the impression that he wouldn't last long.

Then Mandy Brocklehurst was up last and she shook and was pale. She said she had brains and she was going to try and outwit the rest of the tributes.

The Hufflepuff's were up next and Gabrielle Valle, the little girl, was cute and innocent in her interview but it didn't seem to be an act which meant she'd probably be dead pretty quickly.

Then Susan Bones was up, and like the Slytherins Susan employed the cocky, sexy tactic to her interview.

'People underestimate Hufflepuff's,' she said, 'but I'm no ordinary Hufflepuff, I'm an exception and I plan on proving that in the games.'

'You want to win for your house?' Rita asked chirpily.

'I want to win for myself, but also to prove that Hufflepuff's aren't complete pushovers,' Susan said.

Ron was next and inevitably his family were mentioned in the interview.

'So Ronald,' Rita said happily, 'we all know your family has a tragic history in the games.'

There was much sincere nodding in the audience, 'do you want to win to change that?'

'My brother Charlie already proved a Weasley could win,' Ron said with a shrug, 'but obviously I would like to win.'

'In the last 14 years you've lost how many siblings?' Rita asked, still in a very happy tone of voice.

'5,' Ron said in a choked voice.

'And is it harder for you because of that? Do you feel like you have less of a chance because they all died?' Rita asked, her tone was so mock sweet and sad that it was sickening.

'Not really,' Ron said simply, 'because I'm not them. I'm completely different.'

After this painful interview Justin, the final Hufflepuff was interviewed. He was pretty weak as he couldn't stop shaking or stuttering throughout. He said he hoped that the odds would be in his favour but that he was admittedly a little nervous and very scared. When he got off the stage it was time for the Gryffindors to begin their interviews.

Cormac was first, he said he was prepared and that he was a fighter. He said he was determined and that he wouldn't give up until he was the winner. It was the biggest amount of bullshit anyone had ever heard, especially knowing he only got a score of 6.

Elizabeth was up after him and although she was nervous she did a pretty good job.

'Elizabeth!' Rita said when the girl sat down, 'are you feeling confident?'

'Not as much as a lot of the others,' Elizabeth admitted, 'but I feel okay, yeah.'

'And do you have any tactics worked out?'

'Some,' Elizabeth said with a small smile, 'but I'm keeping them in here,' she added as she tapped her head.

'Oh very wise indeed,' Rita said with a grin. It continued along these lines until Elizabeth left the stage and it was time for the next person to step up, Hermione.

'Good luck,' Harry said, despite the fact they were fighting.

Hermione gave him a weak smile and walked up to the edge of the stage.

'Next up, District 5, you know her as the girl on fire! But we know her as the lovely Hermione Spencer!' Rita announced and with a deep breath Hermione walked onto the stage and gave everybody a wave, she was terrified.

There was much applause as Hermione took her seat across from Rita, it took a moment for it all to die down, but it did, and Hermione was momentarily overwhelmed by the amount of people.

'Well,' Rita said with a grin, 'that was _quite _an entrance you made at the opening ceremony. What was going through your mind as you travelled down that strip in your carriage which flames fanning out behind you?'

'To be honest I was just praying that I wouldn't burn to death,' Hermione said honestly which drew laughter from the crowd and from Rita.

'I have to say, my breath caught a little when you came out in that carriage,' Rita said swooning a little.

Hermione smiled a little bit and admitted sheepishly, 'I don't think I ever found mine.'

'Are the flames real?' Rita asked with interest.

'Yes,' Hermione said simply, because she had been told by Charlie to lie about the fact the flames were magical. She glanced out into the audience and saw her stylist Phillip nod at her, that was their sign, 'I'm wearing them today. Would you like to see?'

The crowd cheered loudly and Rita asked, 'is it safe?'

'Yes, of course it is,' Hermione replied with a chuckle.

'What do you think?' Rita asked the crowd who cheered and screamed loudly, she laughed, 'I think that's a yes.'

Nervously Hermione go to her feet and spun around very fast in a circle, causing the fake flames to appear in the gold folds at the bottom of her dress. The crowd went crazy as she slowed down and tried not to fall over.

'Steady now!' Rita said fondly as she sat Hermione down in the chair again, 'so Hermione, are you prepared for the games?'

'As prepared as I'll ever be,' Hermione answered honestly.

* * *

When Hermione left the stage it was Harry's turn. He was the last one up, and he did actually feel very nervous for the first time. He took a breath to steady his heart, he should technically have been good at this. Sirius had been training him from a young age to be able to deal with large crowds and public appearances. Rita announced his name and Harry walked out onto the stage, waving and smiling at the crowd who cheered and shouted loudly.

'Harry!' Rita said happily when he sat down, 'how are you finding it here in the capitol?'

'Ah well it's different,' Harry said, playing the likeability factor, 'I've never seen a bath with that many taps, not even at Hogwarts.'

Rita laughed loudly at this and Harry said, 'Yeah I'm pretty sure I smell of lavender…'

Rita laughed once more and the crowd laughed as Rita smelled him and said he did smell like lavender. Hermione rolled her eyes, Harry was likeable, much more likeable than her. This was the reason that he would win.

'So it is strange for you being here with people from your District in different houses?' Rita asked curiously.

'Not really,' Harry replied honestly, 'I grew up in District 2 because my parents died when I was young and I had to live with my pureblood Godfather. I find I fit in more with my friends in Gryffindor than with the people from District 2.'

'And do you wonder what your parents would think?' Rita asked, 'if they could see you now? Proud, happy, concerned?'

'I do wonder,' Harry said honestly, 'but I've never known them so I don't know what they'd think. I would hope that they would be proud of me.'

'Oh and I'm sure they would be,' Rita said with a smile.

* * *

'Oh they'd be proud of you Harry,' Sirius whispered as he sat next to his wife watching the interview, 'they would be so incredibly proud of you.'

'He's doing well,' Amelia said happily.

'As well as he can for a Gryffindor half-blood,' Sirius sighed.

'He got a good score, and he's likeable,' Amelia said, squeezing her husband's hand, 'maybe he'll get some sponsors.'

'We can only hope,' Sirius said quietly as his eyes went back to the screen.

* * *

'So, Harry,' Rita said, getting down to the juicy stuff, 'is there somebody special back home?'

'Nah,' Harry said shaking his head.

'Oh, I find that hard to believe,' Rita said with a smirk, 'a handsome young boy like you!'

Harry blushed a little and said, 'well there's one girl who I've liked for a long time, but I don't think she really feels the same way.'

'Ooh,' Rita said as she leaned forward, 'why don't you go out there and win for her Harry? Then she'll never be able to refuse you!' Rita chuckled and the crowd laughed with her.

'I don't think that will work somehow,' Harry said honestly, putting on a fake smile, 'the thing is…she came to the capitol with me.'

'Ahh,' Rita said, and the crowd followed suit, 'so who is the lucky lady?'

'Hermione,' Harry said softly, 'Hermione Spencer.'

'That's tough luck,' Rita said, placing a 'comforting' hand on Harry's shoulder as the crowd went silent, 'I wish you all the best of luck.'

Harry thanked Rita and left the stage, walking into the room where Hermione and Charlie were waiting. Hermione was fuming as Harry walked in.

'What the hell was that?' Hermione asked angrily when she saw him, 'you say you want to train separately and don't talk to me all day then you tell the world you've got a crush on me? What the hell is that about?'

'Stop yelling,' Charlie said, grabbing Hermione and forcing her into a seat, 'you don't seem to realise that your little boyfriend over there did you a favour. He just made you look desirable.'

'I thought we could sell the whole star-crossed lovers things,' Evelyn said excitedly, 'it's going to get you so many sponsors!'

Hermione was quiet as she calmed down slightly.

'I'm sorry,' Harry said honestly, 'we should have told you about our plan.'

'Why didn't you?' Hermione asked, feeling hurt and left out.

'Charlie thought you'd give it away. He said you're not very good at acting,' Harry muttered.

'What is it with you anyway?' Hermione asked Charlie angrily, 'why are you always on his side and not mine?'

'Because he's the sensible one,' Charlie said simply, 'now think about this because being in love with that boy could get you sponsors and sponsors could save your goddamn life!

* * *

Still angry from earlier Hermione had stormed to her bedroom. As she lay in bed that night she couldn't sleep at all. She watched the hours tick by on the clock, gradually getting closer to the morning when she would be sent out into the arena to die.

Giving up on sleep Hermione got up and made her way upstairs to the roof where she sat on the wall and looked out over new London, the city built from the ashes of a war.

'Guess you can't sleep either,' Harry said with a sigh as he joined her on the wall.

'Sorry for shouting at you earlier,' Hermione muttered, 'I just feel like I'm never in the loop.'

'Sorry,' Harry said again, 'I'm dreading tomorrow.'

'Me too,' Hermione said.

'Everyone's changed,' Harry sighed, 'I barely recognise Draco or Theo.'

'Surely that will make it easier to kill them,' Hermione said in an emotionless tone of voice.

'You'd think,' Harry said darkly, 'I just can't come to terms with the fact that tomorrow I'm going to have to kill people…people I know.'

'I kill animals sometimes,' Hermione admitted, 'when I hunt, but I don't know if I'm emotionally stable enough to kill a person.'

'I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I suppose our natural survival instincts will kick in,' Harry said, staring out over the city in a daze.

'I suppose,' Hermione muttered, thinking about the nightmares that would follow when they were actually placed in the arena the following day.

'Hermione,' Harry said quietly, his voice completely different from usual.

'Yeah?' Hermione said, turning to look at Harry.

'Whatever happens when we get in there tomorrow…' Harry said slowly, as if he was struggling to form his words, 'you know I really care about you, don't you? Not just fake caring for an interview, really.'

'I know,' Hermione whispered as she leant over and kissed him on the cheek, 'I know Harry.'

**TBC :)**


	5. Into the Arena

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 5 - Into the Arena**

'Any last minute advice?' Hermione asked nervously.

'Running into the centre of the arena for supplies is stupid, but I've got a feeling you and Potter will both do it anyway. Just make sure you watch your backs and get out of there alive.'

Hermione nodded at Charlie's words, he continued, 'find water. Without it you won't last the night, and try to find some high ground, then you'll have the advantage.'

'Can't we just conjure water with aguamenti?' Hermione asked.

'What if you don't have a wand?' Charlie countered.

'Charlie, we will be allowed our wands in there…right?' Harry asked, dread creeping into his voice.

'Right,' Charlie said, sounding very unconvincing.

'Alright,' Hermione said quietly, glancing to Harry as they reached the top floor where they would board a hovercraft that would take them to the arena.

'Don't step off the pedestal early,' Harry added, 'one year I saw a kid do it and he was blown into tiny pieces.'

'Gross,' Elizabeth muttered.

'Try not to die,' Charlie added as some last minute advice. He sighed as he watched the retreating backs of the four Gryffindors.

* * *

Once they were on the hovercraft they all had a tracking spell placed on them so they couldn't get lost in the arena by the gamemakers who were watching them. The head gamemaker, Dolores Umbridge, was the one who would call all the shots.

It wasn't just a fight to the death in the arena, magically engineered traps were sometimes set off to draw people together or just to mix things up if the audience in the capitol were getting bored. It was disgusting. As the hovercraft neared the arena more and more people went pale.

They arrived underground in a secret location after that and were all separated to go to their stylists. Harry ended up in a dingy little room with Evelyn who quickly gave him his suit for the arena. It was fairly simple and black, but it didn't look like it would keep out the heat very well.

'30 seconds,' a voice said loudly, echoing around the room.

'Good luck,' Evelyn said, looking close to tears as she told Harry to stand on an 'X' on the floor.

The voice then called out, '20 seconds.'

Harry felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest, he had never been this scared in his life.

'10 seconds,' the voice said, it was getting louder each time.

After a moment or two there was a flash and Harry vanished only to appear on a circular podium in the centre of the arena. There was a loud countdown going on around him, but he didn't pay attention as he looked around the arena. It wasn't too bad this year, there was a standard forest, and there was even a big lake so there was a good water source. Sometimes the arena was a desert and one year it had been entirely covered in snow.

The countdown didn't start straight away, instead a voice made an announcement. It was the voice of Umbridge, the head gamemaker.

'This year!' it announced, 'no magic is allowed by the tributes own wands! You may try to work these but they are magic-less! 8 wands lie in the centre of the arena, good luck!'

With the announcement over the countdown started at 60 seconds and counted down slowly. As it got lower Harry's heart bet faster yet. He glanced to Hermione who looked like she might be sick. She shook her head, indicating she wasn't going to run in for supplies.

Harry had already decided that he would, he needed to have a wand, or maybe he'd grab two and give one to Hermione, 'wands' he mouthed to her.

'I know,' she mouthed back, and she looked conflicted.

8 wands, 16 tributes. Only half of them would get there. Without a wand they were doomed in here, that one year when magic hadn't been allowed, it had been horrendous. Harry just remembered it, people had been breaking each other's necks with their bare hands.

The countdown ended and the mad rush began. Harry didn't pay attention to what was going on around him as he ran in to the supplies in the centre, determined to get to those wands.

The bloodbath had already started, Harry watched as Daphne grabbed Mandy as she rushed towards the centre for supplies. She spun the Ravenclaw around and punched her in the throat which knocked her to the ground gasping for breath. With one fatal kick Daphne then forced the girls nose bone through her own brain, killing her instantly. She then rushed forward and grabbed a wand.

As Harry neared the wands he saw Theo take down the little Hufflepuff girl Gabriella in seconds by grabbing and twisting her neck, breaking it instantly. He too grabbed a wand from the centre.

After this Harry himself ran into trouble only inches away from the wands when his path was blocked by Jason Johnson. The younger boy pulled a wand on Harry who acting on instinct punched him in the stomach and winded him. The Ravenclaw dropped the wand which Harry then grabbed from the ground and aimed at the boys chest. He shot him with 'reducto', blasting him three feet into the air and essentially blowing him up.

Feeling guilty about the brutal way in which he had killed the boy Harry reached the wands and grabbed one, looking around to see if Hermione had run towards the centre or fled into the woods. He didn't see her at first because Susan was blocking his way as she murdered the other young girl, Penelope Crouch. It was then he spotted Hermione, darting past Susan towards the wands, Harry threw her the one in his hand, she caught it and conjured up a shield charm as she ran towards the edge of the forest.

Harry followed her, running past Draco Malfoy who was standing over a lump of flesh that looked like the remains of Cormac McLaggen. However it was quite difficult to recognise him as he appeared to have been turned inside out. Sprinting towards the forest edge with a shield charm Harry shouted to Hermione, 'run!'

It didn't take much telling so she did, she ran as fast as she could away from the bloodbath. Harry attempted to run after her but lost her amongst all the confusion as he hurried down a hill towards a clump of trees where he only then stopped. When he sat down on the damp ground it took a moment to get his breath back. He then heard the cannons going off.

The sound of a cannon was to symbol when a tribute had died. He heard the sound 5 times for Gabriella, Penelope, Jason, Mandy and Cormac. It stopped then and Harry was fairly sure that everyone else had managed to run into the forest.

Another advantage from running in for the wands was that Harry now knew at least some people who had them. Draco, Theo and Susan all definitely had wands, as did he and Hermione. He felt better knowing Hermione had a wand and at least some way to protect herself.

He sighed as he looked for a source of water and found a small pond, when he had grabbed a wand he had also grabbed a small backpack which had a water bottle, some food and some rope inside it. He filled the water bottle and made his way back towards the centre slightly, he was in low ground at the moment, in a valley. He didn't want to be that exposed.

'Hey Harry!'

Harry jumped and pulled his wand out, positioning it towards the voice. It was Draco, and he was flanked by Theo, Daphne and Susan.

'What happened to your alliance?' Draco asked, noticing Harry hadn't dropped his wand yet.

'I lost them,' Harry said honestly.

'What are you waiting for then? Come with us,' Theo said with a smile, 'we could use you.'

'And stop pointing that thing at us, we're your friends,' Draco said, referring to Harry's wand.

Harry nodded and lowered his wand, walking over to the group of careers, 'so what's your plan of action?'

'We've got supplies out by the centre. We're waiting around till tonight to see if anyone is stupid enough to light a fire,' Draco said.

'Makes sense,' Harry said as he started to trek back to the centre with them, 'what happened to Terry? Wasn't he supposed to be a part of your alliance?'

'He wasn't quite up to scratch,' Susan said with a shrug.

'Fair enough,' Harry said simply, playing along with their nonchalant attitude. He was happy in some ways to be with Draco and Theo again, but he also knew that this alliance couldn't last forever, soon they would have to kill each other.

* * *

After running from the centre of the arena with her wand Hermione didn't stop for a long time, she ran down a hill and up another one, safe in the knowledge she was probably far enough away from it all she stopped. Hermione had good stamina from going out hunting at home, she could run for a good while and she was glad of that now.

She rested for a moment, until her breath went back to normal and then she pulled her small pack from her bag. She had grabbed it on her way out of the centre, it only had a sleeping bag, some rope and a water bottle in it but that was better than nothing. She had spent a good few hours running and they had been dropped into the arena just before midday so by now the sky was beginning to fade a little into darkness.

Hermione pulled the water bottle from the bag and filled it up with water using the spell aguamenti. She had a small drink, but saved the rest as she scaled a tree and settled down in her sleeping bag on a big, comfortable branch. Using the rope she tied herself to the branch so she wouldn't fall out in the middle of the night. She had come to the conclusion that she was safer up here than on the ground.

As darkness fell Hermione kept her ears alert, and watched for anyone approaching. She didn't hear anything until the capitol's theme began to play. When this happened the capitol seal appeared in the sky. The dark mark shone against the dark sky like a bright moon. This was the time of day when the faces of the fallen tributes flashed up for the other tributes to see who had died that day.

The first face to appear was Gabriella Valles accompanied with the Hufflepuff crest and the words 'District 5'. After that Penelope Crouch's face appeared with the Slytherin crest and the words 'District 2'. Third to appear was Jason Johnson with the Ravenclaw crest and the words 'District 4'. Fourth was Mandy Brocklehurst with the backing of the Ravenclaw crest accompanied with the words 'District 4' again. Finally Cormac McLaggen's face appeared with Gryffindor's crest behind him and the words 'District 4'. After that the music stopped and the mark vanished from the sky.

* * *

'Did you kill anyone?' Susan asked the rest of the careers as they sat around a nice warm fire in the centre of the arena close by the supplies.

'I got the Hufflepuff girl,' Theo said casually.

'Brocklehurst,' Daphne said with a shrug.

'The Gryffindor, McLaggen,' Draco said simply as he warmed his hands over the fire, he turned to his friend, 'what about you Harry?'

'Johnson, the Ravenclaw boy,' Harry said, feeling guilty already. That kid had a family somewhere who were crying right now and it was all his fault.

'Oh yeah,' Theo said as he laughed, 'you blew him to smithereens. I nearly slipped on one of his lungs.'

The others all laughed and Harry frowned, feeling guilty and sick, 'it wasn't meant to be brutal, it was just the first thing that came to mind.'

'Don't feel bad about it,' Theo said to his friend, 'it's gonna happen in here at some point.'

'I don't know why you wanted him Draco,' Daphne said, giving Harry a dirty look, 'he's a filthy half-breed with a conscience.'

'He's my friend,' Draco said simply, 'so he's here, and he'll be helpful. Just you wait and see.'

'How am I helpful?' Harry asked with a frown.

'You're gonna help us track down your Mudblood so we can kill her,' Daphne said with a smirk.

Harry's frown deepened slightly, 'Why do you want to kill Hermione?'

'Rule of play,' Susan said with a shrug, 'we kill the Muggle-borns first.'

'Lovely,' Harry muttered.

'So Harry, are you with us?' Draco asked, looking at his friend, 'you're from District 2. You're one of us.'

'Yeah,' Harry said with a smile, 'I'll help you.'

His own plan was formulating in his head. He had no intention of letting them find or kill Hermione but if he stuck with them he'd be part of the pack and at the opportune moment he would break free and find Hermione himself.

'Do you see that?' Susan asked, pointing to something flickering in the distance.

Theo shook his head in disbelief, 'who was stupid enough to light a fire?'

'Probably one of the mudbloods,' Daphne said nastily, 'come on, let's go kill them.'

* * *

Hermione tried to sleep but she didn't last very long. In one of her moments of being half-asleep and half-awake a familiar smell woke her up. She frowned and looked down to where Terry Boot had lit a fire. He looked incredibly smug, clearly thinking that he had contained it, but he hadn't. Hermione knew the only way to contain any fire, magical or otherwise, was to put it in a jar, a shield charm wouldn't do it. There were too many elements involved, the smoke from the fire was being contained, but the light wouldn't be and if the careers saw it they would make their way over here.

Hermione panicked a little. If they came for Terry they might look up and see her. She shuffled around a little, pulling herself higher into the tree where the foliage hid her. She then tied herself in again and held her wand at the ready.

As she watched the careers approach she disillusioned herself, there were 5 of them but she couldn't make out who they were yet. She could have shouted out to Terry to warn him, she wanted too, but she would give her position away and it would only result in both of them dying.

The careers jumped out on Terry and now they were right underneath her Hermione saw their faces. Draco, Theo, Daphne, Susan and Harry himself, she had to try not to gasp.

'Go on lover boy,' Susan said nastily, 'prove your one of us and kill him.'

'Harry!' Terry cried out, 'please don't kill me!'

A horrible flashback hit Harry of a woman begging for mercy but he pushed it out and advanced on Terry.

'Please Harry!' Terry begged.

Harry raised his wand and in one swift movement slit Terry's throat, 'Sectumsempra!' he said as the curse tore through the artery in Terry's neck. Blood spurted out everywhere, almost covering Harry before his shield charm activated. Terry's face drained of colour immediately and he was instantly dead. A few seconds later the cannon announced it.

'Alright lover boy,' Daphne said with a grin, 'you've proven yourself. Now where's the Mudblood girlfriend?'

'She's in this direction,' Harry said, pointing towards the trees in the distance and leading on.

'How do you know?' Theo asked suspiciously.

'That was a trap back there set to catch rabbits, she set it, I know it,' Harry said as he led on. It was true, Hermione had set that trap, but she felt sick at the thought of Harry trying to kill her. He was working with the careers against her.

They began to walk away, and as they did Hermione heard Daphne mutter, 'why can't we just kill him now?'

'He's our best shot at finding the Mudblood,' Draco mumbled to the girl as they too disappeared into the forest behind Hermione.

Hermione was frozen in her tree, and she didn't even realise she was crying until a hidden camera on a branch next to her whirred to zoom in on her. Angry and aware this was all going to be on television she wiped her eyes and shut them, attempting to get back to sleep.

* * *

Hermione didn't sleep much that night and she arose early before dawn had properly broken. Checking that the coast was clear she climbed down from her tree and walked in the opposite direction from the centre of the arena, trying to get as far away as possible from the careers. She stopped occasionally by streams and ponds for water and to try and find food, but other than that she was on the move all day.

She was reaching the end of the forest and saw a mountain range in the distance when night began to fall. The forest wasn't too different from the forbidden forest at Hogwarts, she had seen a few familiar creatures like clabberts and acromantula. Clabberts as a whole weren't dangerous and acromantula were easy to run away from by scaling a tree until they got bored and left. Sometimes the capitol used spells to modify creatures however, Hermione had seen it in previous years. There were genetically modified clabberts that lost their innocent nature and ripped people apart in seconds, Hermione had been careful to check that the trees she climbed were clear of the creatures for that reason. So far creatures had proven more dangerous than other tributes since Hermione was so far away from them all. She had seen a mournful looking Augurey in its nest, although it had been silent meaning that no rain would fall in the next couple of days. She had come across quite a few Bowtruckles and as she found a large tree, she saw them scuttle out at her once more.

'Let me share it,' Hermione muttered to them as she held out a handful of dead woodlice to them, 'just for the night.'

The little stick-like creatures accepted the offering and scurried off, leaving Hermione a comfortable branch to sleep on. As night fell she watched the sky and saw the dark mark appear along with the capitol theme music, but no faces appeared today, no one had died.

Hermione yawned and safely tied herself into her tree. Then she shut her eyes to try and get some sleep.

* * *

'She's too far away from the other tributes,' one of the gamemakers in the control room above the arena said.

'Bring her closer to them then,' Umbridge said giddily.

'Dementors?' The gamemaker suggested.

'Ooh yes!' Umbridge said, 'that will definitely do it.'

* * *

Hermione was awoken by the strange smell of fog. She frowned as she realised she was completely immersed in it. She shivered and felt icy right through, right to her heart.

'Dementors!' she realised, grabbing her things and climbing down the tree. Once on the ground she ran away from the fog which seemed to follow her no matter how fast she was.

She screamed when a dementor materialized in front of her. She had seen them once before, on the outskirts of District 5. They were placed there to stop traitors from running away, they were supposed to deliver the traitors to Voldemort but most of the time they sucked their souls out first. She had never seen one this close up before, a huge black cloaked figure, it took a rattling breath and reached out a scabby hand towards Hermione.

Finally coming to her senses she aimed her wand at the dementor and thought of her happiest memory which coincidentally involved Harry, 'EXPECTO PATRONUM!'

The dementor reeled back as Hermione's patronus leaped out of her wand and charged at it. Her patronus took the form of a horse, Hermione had never figured out why, but Harry was pretty sure it was because horses were noble animals.

The horse drove it away and without waiting to see if there were any more Hermione ran even faster yet, covering almost the same amount of ground in an hour or two as she had all day the day before. She eventually got out of the fog which seemed to be choking her and stopped running to catch her breath, it was harsh and ragged as she tried to suck as much air into her lungs as possible. She had stopped next to a pond and filled her water bottle up, she drank it all in one gulp and then filled it once more, feeling much better already.

It must have been early morning when the dementors had struck because light was just beginning to crack through as dawn came to an end. The fog was gone, but Hermione still felt icy and cold, that was the single most horrible experience she had ever felt. It had felt like she would never be happy again.

After taking a moment to calm down and get back to her senses Hermione realised with a start what had just happened. Those dementors had been placed there by the gamemakers to draw her in towards the centre, to draw her closer to the other tributes. She had no idea where she was, or even if she was anywhere near the centre of the arena. Getting to her feet Hermione panicked as she heard the voices of the careers coming her way.

'There she is!' Draco shouted as they emerged through the trees and saw Hermione standing by the pond.

Hermione was startled that Harry was still with them, trailing at the back of the pack. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew that even though she was fast the careers were just as quick. She glanced behind her, seeing them catch up. As she looked ahead Hermione saw her only chance, a tree.

They could probably climb trees too, Hermione realised, but if she stayed on the ground she'd surely die so she grabbed onto the tree and scaled it, getting jeered at by the careers.

'Think you can hide up there Mudblood?' Theo sneered.

Hermione ignored them and kept climbing until she was so high she could see out over the other trees to the centre of the arena where all of the supplies were piled up high in a pyramid.

A ton of spells were shot up in her direction but Hermione shuffled around the large tree trunk and hid behind it, some of the spells caught the trunk but it was so big and old that they didn't do much damage. The others tried to climb the tree but nobody got as far as Hermione, none of them were skilled climbers.

'Let's just stay here,' Harry said, and Hermione's heart froze.

'What?' Daphne snapped.

'She can't stay up there forever,' Harry reasoned, 'she'll need to come down or she'll die of dehydration.'

'Okay,' Draco said with a nod, 'yeah that works.'

'Why are you always listening to the Half-blood scum Draco?' Daphne hissed.

'He's right, she will have to come down,' Theo said to the Slytherin girl, 'make yourself useful and start a fire.'

'I'll kill you right now unless you treat me with some respect Theo,' Daphne said, pulling her wand on the boy, 'I'm the only tribute from District 1, you need me.'

'She's right Theo, we do,' Draco said as he looked at Susan, 'half-blood, _you _start the fire.'

Susan glared at the Slytherin but got to work creating a magical fire anyway.

Relatively safe in her tree Hermione went up by a few more branches and made a bed just below the canopy cover of the tree top. She was really high up and looking down made her feel a bit sick but she got in her sleeping bag and tied herself in anyway. Taking a breath and trying to slow her heart rate she looked down and through the tree cover saw Susan and Harry making the fire while Draco, Daphne and Theo muttered among themselves. Did Harry really not see that as soon as they had killed Susan, he'd be next? He was stupid to ally himself with the careers, even Charlie had advised against alliances and deals, and Harry had agreed with him.

Had he meant anything or had the last week or so all been a part of some twisted game that involved him winning and Hermione dying? She sighed, wondering where her friend and the boy she had been in love with for years had gone.

The after effects of the attack by the dementors was beginning to take its toll on Hermione as she sat in her tree. Mid-day came but she still couldn't stop shivering, she had barely eaten anything since she was dropped in the arena and she was losing her strength. Ever since the attack she had felt so cold, and it was only getting worse. She shivered uncontrollably and her teeth chattered. She ate some berries that she had foraged earlier in the day and some of the leftover meat she had kept from the rabbit she had cooked on her first night in the arena. Once that was gone she was still hungry and she was rationing water so carefully because she didn't know how long she would be up here for.

As night fell the dark mark and the music played once more, and again there had been no deaths today which was a relief. They were on day 3, more would have to die soon or people in the capitol would get bored.

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes to try and sleep but her shaking was so bad that there was nothing she could do. She frowned when she heard a faint whooshing and opened her eyes to see a miniature broomstick with her name on it soar towards her and land on her lap. Attached was a package wrapped in silk which Hermione extracted. She frowned, it was just a chocolate bar but there was a note attached, _'Eat it, you'll feel better – Charlie'_.

Trusting her mentor, despite the fact he was an alcoholic pain in the ass Hermione ate half of the chocolate bar, and couldn't believe it when instantly she felt warm inside and the shaking and the teeth chattering stopped. She smiled up at the sky as her thanks to Charlie and also to whatever sponsor had given her the bar of chocolate. She put the other half in her bag, just in case she needed it again.

With the careers underneath her Hermione had a restless night and when the first light of morning appeared she opened her eyes, glancing down to find the careers were still asleep. She contemplated trying to leave, but she knew she would wake them up if she did and that then she would just get herself killed. She could have randomly started firing spells down at them but then she risked hitting Harry, and even though he was in an alliance with the careers she couldn't bear the thought of killing him. As Hermione tried to figure out her options she heard a voice from somewhere to her right.

'Psst!'

Frowning Hermione turned to her right, gripping her wand just in case it was an enemy. In the tree next to her she saw Luna Lovegood who obviously had the same idea as her, it was safer up here than down there.

Luna was a little lower than her in her tree but pointed to a spot above Hermione and then pointed down at the sleeping careers. Hermione frowned as she looked above her and then realised what the Ravenclaw meant, there was a nest of sleeping Doxy's above her, if she could somehow detach it from the tree then it would fall and the Doxy's would attack the careers. Doxy venom was dangerous and in high doses it was lethal, but most of the time it caused dizziness, nausea and hallucinations.

Glancing over to Luna once more Hermione frowned when she didn't see the Ravenclaw anywhere. Clearly she was more adept in the trees than Hermione.

A plan had hatched in her head as Hermione climbed up a little further until she was almost in the tree tops, the nest was sitting on a fairly thick branch, and Hermione somehow had to find a way to detach that from the rest of the tree.

'Diffindo,' she whispered, and immediately an invisible hand began to cut through the branch. The Doxy's woke up, realising slowly what was happening and Hermione got bitten by one just before the branch separated from the tree and the nest of angry Doxy's fell towards the careers.

After that everything happened pretty quickly, there was a lot of screaming as the Doxy's began to attack the awakening careers. There were at least 50 of them and although they were small they were violent with sharp teeth and powerful venom. Hermione began to climb back down the tree, but it was difficult considering the venom was affecting her too. She felt dizzy and sick and she had double vision. The careers screamed and scattered, leaving one person writhing on the ground with bites all over his body.

Hermione fell the last few feet from the tree onto the soft, leaf covered ground and tried to push herself up, but her body was getting weaker by the second. She had lost her wand somewhere in the fall and grabbed that of the person lying dead on the ground, as she did so a cannon went off.

Hermione stumbled through the forest, stopping only a few feet away and seeing the trees around her swirl like crazy.

'RUN!' a familiar voice screamed.

Hermione jumped, looking around and seeing Harry about 5 times, he was running towards, 'RUN! THEY'RE COMING!' he yelled and even in her confused state Hermione listened to her friend and ran, she ran for as long as she could, the forest blurring around her, and then eventually her body gave up and she passed out.

* * *

When Hermione woke up she had no idea how much time had passed, but it was day-time and there was still quite a lot of light. Her entire body was aching and she felt both sick and hungry at the same time. She groaned as she sat up and took in her surroundings, she was in a thicket of trees and she had been sleeping on the cold ground for god knows how long.

She pushed herself to her feet, knowing she needed to find water. As she did so she heard rustling in the bushes and frowned when she saw a clump of blonde hair disappear.

'Luna?' Hermione called out gently, 'are you there?'

Tentatively her face appeared from behind the bushes and Hermione smiled a little, 'I won't hurt you,' she promised, 'you helped me get away from the careers.'

Luna emerged from the bush properly and nodded.

'Do you have any food?' Hermione asked, looking around.

Luna shook her head and said, 'I can't hunt.'

An hour or so later they had a plump roasted bird between them and as they sat and ate with a warm fire Hermione asked, 'how long was I out for?'

'A day or two,' Luna replied in a small, timid voice, 'We're on day 6 now.'

'Did I miss anything?' She asked, and Luna understood what she meant, had anyone died since then?

'The Slytherin, Theodore Nott, he's dead,' Luna said, 'I think it was the Doxy venom.'

Hermione nodded, remembering the pale form of someone when she was trying to run away. Her frown deepened as she remembered Harry trying to help her even though he had betrayed her. Had he done that out of guilt? Or had it just been a hallucination?

'And Harry? The other Gryffindor boy?' Hermione asked, her heart pounding as she asked the question.

Luna smiled a little dreamily, 'He's okay,' she said simply, 'is it true that you're in love with him?'

Hermione floundered a little, and frowned, 'I thought I was,' she said honestly, 'but he's working with the careers.'

'Maybe he's trying to protect you,' Luna said, again in that dreamy voice, 'so they don't find you.'

'Yeah well they found me pretty good the other day,' Hermione said with a sigh, 'do you want to be my ally?'

Luna frowned a little, 'Don't you think I'm crazy?'

'I don't believe in crazy,' Hermione replied, 'I prefer to think of you as odd and creative, and that's the kind of person I could use on my side.'

Luna smiled broadly at this and nodded, 'Okay, I'll be on your side,' she said.

'I have a plan,' Hermione admitted, 'when I was up that tree that the careers trapped me in I saw the supplies they had.'

'I've seen them too,' Luna said, 'they're by the lake in the centre.'

Hermione nodded and said, 'We can't get to the careers while they're in a pack but we _can _get to their supplies.'

'But won't they all be there?' Luna asked, looking a little fearful.

'Not if we draw them out somehow…' Hermione said thoughtfully.

'We could start a fire?' Luna suggested, 'I could start a fire and lead them away while you destroyed the supplies.'

'That works,' Hermione said honestly, 'I would have to use a blasting curse…Confringo maybe.'

'You'll have to do it from a distance,' Luna said carefully, 'I think they have a caterwauling spell around the supplies so no one can get near them.'

Hermione nodded again, 'first thing tomorrow we'll get started,' she said as they looked for an appropriate tree to spend the night in. Once again the day was free of deaths.

**TBC :)  
**

**Hope your all still enjoying this :D**


	6. The Reunion

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 6 - The Reunion **

_**A/N: Hope your still enjoying this, I'm having so much fun writing it! Thanks for reading :D**_

* * *

The next morning Hermione and Luna ate quickly and then split up, Luna to find a spot far enough away to light the fire, and Hermione to make her way down to a thicket of trees close by the supplies.

'I'll see you later,' Hermione said fondly to the Ravenclaw. She nodded, looking nervous.

They then split up and when Hermione got to the forest edge she hid behind a particularly large tree, waiting for the smoke from the fire to lead them away. Harry was no longer with the careers which worried Hermione but she also knew that he wasn't dead so that gave her some small comfort.

After half an hour or so Draco pointed up in the other direction, 'Look!' he said as smoke billowed from the treetops.

'Come on!' Daphne said, rushing towards the forest edge.

'You,' Draco said to Susan, 'stay here and watch the supplies!'

Susan nodded glumly as Draco and Daphne darted off into the forest. With the coast clear Hermione prepared herself, confringo was a powerful spell and the explosion it would cause would be dangerous to her, even from this distance. She had seconds after firing the spell to put up a shield charm, or she would be incinerated.

Just as she was aiming her wand, ready to blow up the supplies she stopped because someone rushed in from the opposite side of the forest. It was Ron, Hermione spotted his red hair immediately. He rushed to the supplies and stopped just short of where the caterwauling charm must begin. As he was on the other side of the supplies Susan didn't see him use 'accio' to extract some food. He rushed around back into the forest and this time Susan did see him, she knew she should watch the supplies but instead she ran after Ron into the forest.

With the timing perfect Hermione aimed her wand at the bottom of the pile and said, 'Confringo!'

As the red beam of light shot towards the supplies she cast the most powerful shield charm she could muster and curled up into a ball so that it covered her entire body.

The blast that followed was louder than anything she had ever heard and brighter too. It was huge and it sent debris flying even further than the spot Hermione was in, some debris hit the shield charm but it just slid off and smoked on the ground around her rather than hitting her.

She took a deep breath as she waited for anything else to come, her shield charm was weakening and her ears were ringing. She got to her feet, feeling a little unsteady and saw Susan come back to the supplies. She swore loudly and ran into the forest, clearly knowing she would get no mercy from Draco or Daphne.

Hermione rushed back into the forest, falling over sometimes as her balance wasn't right due to her ears ringing. The further away she got the more her hearing was restored and eventually she was back in the little thicket where she had agreed to meet Luna. She frowned as she looked around, she should have been back here by now. She was much closer. Knowing it was risking her position Hermione shot red sparks into the air, because that was their signal to each other if they ever got lost.

Nothing happening, no one came, and no sparks were shot. Hermione swallowed, she wouldn't have heard the cannon going off earlier because she couldn't hear properly. Rushing through the undergrowth towards the place the fire should have been lit she heard a cry for help.

'HERMIONE!'

'Luna,' Hermione muttered as she ran towards the voice.

'HERMIONE!' it called out again.

As Hermione got closer to the voice she finally found Luna, she was caught in a trap, a plant. It was slowly pulling her into the ground.

'Stop struggling,' Hermione said, 'that's devils snare, it will kill you faster if you struggle.'

Luna tried to stop struggling but her face was still pale with fear.

'Fire kills it,' Hermione muttered, aiming her wand at the plant and shouting, 'Incendio!'

The plant shriveled up and Hermione pulled Luna free of it, 'you're okay,' she said gently, 'and I did it, I destroyed the supplies.'

Luna grinned at this and then fear crept onto her face as she saw something approaching from behind. Hermione spun around, but it was too late, the severing curse had already been cast.

Not waiting to see what state Luna was in Hermione pulled her wand on the caster, Susan, and in one swift movement brought her wand down, 'Avada Kedavra!' she shouted.

You had to really mean an unforgiveable curse for it to work, and Hermione had, because in seconds Susan had fallen to the ground and the cannon had announced her death with a loud bang.

Hermione turned around to where Luna was lying on the ground, a gaping cut in her chest that was bleeding quickly. Her face was draining slowly of colour as she choked out, 'Try and win Hermione, please.'

'I will,' Hermione promised tearfully as Luna's eyes became unseeing. A moment later the cannon went off announcing her death, but instead of just leaving her, Hermione arranged some flowers around her, in some twisted sort of grave. She couldn't just leave straight away, it didn't feel right.

Not thinking about the consequences it might have, Hermione then did what was done for anyone who showed courage or bravery in some way. She raised her wand and closed her eyes until the tip glowed dimly. It was a mark of respect amongst Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs and it was commonly used in Districts 4 and 5.

* * *

Back in District 4 where Luna's Father was watching his daughter's death from the fields he labored in, he let himself cry as he raised his wand until it glowed. His fellow farmers put down their tools, and stopped working, as they all raised their wands for Luna Lovegood.

The guards grew angry and in a flash people were being beaten or dragged away.

'CRUCIO!' one guard yelled, aiming his spell at Xenophilius Lovegood.

'Kill me,' Xenophilius choked out, 'you just killed my daughter! What do I...have to...live for?'

'Fine,' the guard hissed, 'AVADA KEDAVRA!'

As Xenophilius fell to the ground something amazing happened. District 4 began to rebel, they stopped working, they torched fields and fields of crops that were due to be harvested and sent to the capitol. The death of one 15 year old girl and her Father had been enough to send the district over the edge…

* * *

Back in the arena Hermione was still crying as she walked away from Luna's cold dead body, her wand back in her suit pocket.

She wiped her eyes, angry at herself for getting emotionally involved as she trekked towards the high ground she had sought after when she was first thrown into the arena. It was day 7 now and 2 more tributes were dead.

'Attention tributes!' the chirpy, cheerful voice of Umbridge said, her voice loud across the arena.

'Only 7 of you remain! Of the 8 wands that you retrieved in the centre of the arena 5 have now stopped working!' she gave a creepy little giggle, '3 of them are still working, but only 3!'

Hermione frowned as the announcement came to an end, 'Accio,' she muttered, aiming her wand towards a leaf, it soared towards her and she breathed a sigh of relief, her wand was one of the three working.

_Only 7 of us remain_, Hermione thought to herself. She and Harry were still alive, as were Draco and Daphne, the other 3 remaining tributes had to be Ron, Justin and Elizabeth. Hermione was amazed but pleased at how long they had lasted and she decided that since she needed a new mission to motivate her, she'd set out to find her friends.

* * *

'I need to kill her.'

'No you don't,' Charlie said, reasoning with Umbridge.

'Oh but I think you'll find that I do,' she said chirpily, 'there has been an uprising in District 4 because of her.'

'And by killing her all you will do is make her a martyr,' Charlie said carefully.

Umbridge thought about this for a moment and Charlie continued, 'whats the only thing more powerful than fear?'

Umbridge frowned and Charlie said, 'hope. Give them something to root for.'

'And what do you suggest?' she asked in that sickly sweet tone.

'Love,' Charlie said with a slight smirk, 'make an announcement that two can win as long as they are from the same house. Then when only two remain, change the rules so one has to kill the other.'

Umbridge giggled happily, 'Oh Mr. Weasley, I may make you a gamemaker next year!' she said almost suggestively.

* * *

Hermione had been walking for a couple of hours when she found them, night was beginning to fall on Day 7 in the arena. She had been in here for a week and already over half of the tributes were dead. The Hunger Games lasted two weeks at maximum, but sometimes it was over a lot quicker than that.

Hermione found Elizabeth and Justin at the foot of a mountain, she frowned when she realised Justin was lying on the ground motionless, but he couldn't be dead, the cannon would have announced it.

'Hermione!' Elizabeth exclaimed when she saw her friend running towards her.

'Hey Elizabeth,' Hermione said, hugging the girl.

'I heard the cannons. Do you know what happened?' Elizabeth asked sounding panicked.

'Susan killed Luna so I killed her,' Hermione said as she sank down against the wall.

'Oh,' Elizabeth said, 'we haven't killed anyone. We've just been hiding out here.'

'What happened to him?' Hermione asked, looking down at Justin. His face was pale and gaunt and his eyes wide and staring.

'The dementors,' Elizabeth said darkly, 'they found us, we didn't have wands so we ran. I got away, but they got to Justin.'

'They gave him the kiss?' Hermione asked painfully.

Elizabeth nodded glumly.

'And you haven't killed him yet?' Hermione asked in disbelief.

'He's my best friend!' Elizabeth exclaimed, 'I can't kill him!'

'Hes nobody,' Hermione corrected, 'Justin is dead. That… is just an empty shell.'

'He's still Justin,' Elizabeth said tearfully.

'No he isn't,' Hermione said stiffly.

'Please don't kill him Hermione, he might get better,' Elizabeth said, and her hope was so ridiculous that Hermione struggled not to scoff. Nobody got better from a dementors kiss.

All the same she said no more and she went back into the forest to find some food for dinner, as night fell she and Elizabeth shared a roasted rabbit.

'Have you seen Harry?' Hermione asked her friend, knowing she probably hadn't.

Elizabeth smiled slightly, 'He's down by the river, we saw him on our way here.'

Hermione nodded, 'And he's okay?'

'He didn't seem too bad, he was a limping a little,' Elizabeth said, frowning, 'You know you can't both survive, right?'

'Of course I do,' Hermione snapped, it was all she knew, all that had been consuming her mind.

'So what are you going to do?' Elizabeth asked quietly.

'Hope someone else kills him so I don't have too,' Hermione said darkly, their conversation stopping there as the dark mark appeared in the sky and the music played, and tonight there were some faces in the sky.

First was Susan's because she had died before Luna since Hermione's spell had killed her instantly. The backing of the Hufflepuff crest was there as were the words 'District 4'. Hermione got choked up and lost her appetite when Luna's face appeared backed with the Ravenclaw crest and sealed with the words 'District 4.'

That was all for now, and the sky went black once more.

'Get some sleep,' Hermione said to Elizabeth, 'I'll keep guard.'

Elizabeth nodded and curled up into a ball in Hermione's sleeping bag a few feet away.

Hermione kept guard for a couple of hours and then when she was fairly sure that Elizabeth was asleep she pulled her wand out and aimed it at Justin, 'I'm sorry,' she whispered as she uttered the killing curse and the flash of green light took what was left of Justin's life away.

The combination of the flash and the bang of the cannon woke Elizabeth up.

'No!' she cried.

'Elizabeth be sensible!' Hermione snapped, 'he was already dead! No one recovers from a dementors kiss, you know that!'

Elizabeth was crying, but she knew Hermione was right.

'He'd slow us down, he can't walk or sleep or eat. If I hadn't killed him he'd have starved to death anyway, at least it was quicker for him this way,' Hermione reasoned.

'Slowed us down?' Elizabeth asked shakily, 'where are we going?'

'Away from here, the moment it gets light,' Hermione said with a sigh, 'I don't know if you noticed but when we get near the edge of the arena bad things happen.'

'That's why the dementors came,' Elizabeth realised and Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that it was her fault that Justin's soul had been sucked out. She had walked a long way when it happened, and she moved faster than Elizabeth or Justin.

'Try and get some more sleep, I'll wake you up when it gets light,' Hermione said with a sigh.

Elizabeth nodded and curled back up. Hermione didn't cry until her friend was asleep, but then she let her pain out. Killing Justin hadn't been easy for her, he was _her _friend too. They had grown up together in District 5, they had known each other since there about 4 years old. They had even lived in the same town, the same street. They had spent every summer together since they were in 1st year.

Hermione sighed, she knew deep down she had done the right thing. Justin was dead anyway, nobody could live without a soul, it would have left him in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. Surely death was a better fate than that?

As the night wore on Hermione drew cautious as she smelled something odd. It wasn't fog, like the last time…it smelled more like…

'Smoke!' Hermione realised, she shook Elizabeth hard, 'Elizabeth, wake up!' she hissed.

'What is it?' Elizabeth asked as she sat upright.

'Can't you smell that?' Hermione asked frantically. Elizabeth frowned, 'smoke?'

'It's not any smoke,' Hermione said as she grabbed all of their supplies quickly and stuffed them into her pack, 'it's got a distinctive smell, its smoke from a magical fire.'

'What do you mean?' Elizabeth asked, as Hermione put the pack on.

'I mean its fiendfyre!' Hermione shouted as the fire reached them, roaring over the mountain and taking the form of a dragon.

Elizabeth screamed and Hermione grabbed her hand, 'RUN!' she screamed, pulling Elizabeth along with her. They did, but Elizabeth was slower than Hermione and she was keeping her behind. Hermione pulled her friend along as they rushed through the forest, the fire consuming the trees and growing with the foliage it was eating up.

It moved fast and caught up with them quickly, licking at their heels and nipping them as it caught their arms and legs.

Elizabeth was falling further behind and her hand was so sweaty that it slipped out of Hermione's.

'Elizabeth!' Hermione called out as she turned to the girl who was now being consumed by the flames. Her screams were horrendous as the fire beast consumed her flesh, burning it and distorting it until all that was left of her was bones and then even they disintegrated. The cannon boomed and feeling sick to her stomach Hermione ran full out, the fire lapping her up, burning her arms and legs as its fingers tore through sections of her suit.

When she reached the large lake by the centre of the arena Hermione dived into it, relieved at how deep it was. She forced herself to stay underwater and held her breath as the fire reached the water and burned out, turning into steam as it did so. When the coast was finally clear Hermione rose from the water and gulped in the fresh air, her throat was burning from the smoke and the running. She pulled herself from the water and examined her injuries, her leg had a pretty bad burn on it, and so did her arm. There was a slight mark on her left cheek too which stung.

Hermione groaned as she dragged herself to a thicket of trees where she spent the remainder of the day, gripping her wand and hoping no one found her. As the day passed she managed to forage some food and finally it began to get dark. Hermione was still in agonizing pain as she settled down for the night. She didn't have the energy to climb a tree, so she would have to wait here and just hope that the careers didn't find her. Well, what was left of the careers, which was only Draco and Daphne. However they were still pretty brutal, even if there were only two of them.

As night fell Hermione's burns got worse and she couldn't think of any spells that would ease the intense searing pain apart from a numbing charm. She didn't know the charm well enough to cast it properly, she'd have to cast it on her whole leg and she would rather deal with the pain than do that. It really would leave her as a sitting duck, just waiting for the careers to find her.

The music began to play as always and the sky was lit up by the dark mark, the skull leering at them all and the tongue slithering out. As the faces lit up the sky Hermione tried hard not to cry.

First it was Justin's face accompanied with the Gryffindor crest and the words 'District 5'. Then Elizabeth's face came up, accompanied with the same crest and the same words. Hermione found herself not wanting to win, because if she did she had to go back to District 5 and to the broken families of her two close childhood friends. She knew she hadn't killed Elizabeth, but she hadn't exactly done a good job of protecting her either.

Hermione groaned and shut her eyes, trying to block out the pain, both physical and mental.

'Attention tributes!' Umbridge's chirpy voice said, 'the rules have been changed! _Two _tributes can win, but they _must _both be from the same house! That is all!' with a pathetic giggle her voice was gone.

'Harry!' Hermione realised, pushing herself to her feet to go and find him. She didn't last very long, falling down the moment her weak leg tried to support itself. Hermione groaned, resigned to the fact she'd have to wait the night out before trying to find Harry. She knew it made sense, travelling at night was stupid. It would be better if she waited the night out until it was light. So settling down for an uncomfortable night Hermione tried to sleep.

A familiar whooshing sound woke her from her light sleep sometime in the middle of the night, and Hermione frowned as another miniature broomstick with her name on it softly soared towards her. She caught it this time and eagerly opened the package wrapped in silk.

'_Apply generously – Charlie,'_ the attached note said, and Hermione frowned as she looked down at the little tub. She opened it up and saw a white coloured cream in it. Assuming it was for the burns she applied it and felt instant relief as the cool liquid stopped the searing, burning pain.

Finding sleep much easier now Hermione drifted off once more.

* * *

The next time she awoke it was light, and when she looked at her burns they were entirely healed. Grinning she got to her feet and began her search for Harry, but as she trekked through the undergrowth she realised that she had no idea where he was.

It was only then she remembered something Elizabeth had said, about how the last time she'd seen him Harry was down by the river. It was a longshot but it was worth a try so Hermione made her way north to a point of low-lying ground where a river ran through the arena.

It took a good part of the morning to reach the river and when she did she saw no sign of Harry, but she followed it along anyway until it got wider, and then her heart began to pound when she saw specks of blood along the stones lining the river edge. Hermione followed the specs which gradually got bigger the further she went until she reached the widest point of the river.

Then she saw him, it was hard because he was using an illusionment charm but she saw the whites of his eyes against the cobblestones and cried out, 'Harry!' she rushed towards him and disillusioned him, revealing his pale pallor and the extent of his injuries.

'Hermione, hey,' Harry said weakly when he saw her, 'you're alive.'

'You'd have seen my face in the sky if I wasn't,' Hermione said.

'I know, but I was out for a couple of days,' Harry said, shrugging as if this was nothing.

'How'd you get this?' Hermione asked, studying a huge gash in Harry's leg.

'Sectumsempra,' Harry muttered, hissing when Hermione touched it.

'It's going to get infected soon,' she said.

'I know,' Harry said with a groan, 'why do you think I've been lying here waiting to die?'

'You're not going to die,' Hermione said firmly as she looked around for somewhere they could hide out and spotted a small hill leading up to a cave.

'You should go,' Harry said with a frown, 'I'll die anyway. Don't stick around.'

'I'm not leaving and you aren't going to die,' Hermione said as she immobilized Harry so moving him would hurt less. She then levitated Harry carefully towards the cave. They were silent, Harry because he literally couldn't speak and Hermione because she was concentrating.

When they finally reached the cave Hermione made a pretty crappy bed of moss and lay Harry down on it, muttering the counter charm.

The first thing he did was groan in agony.

'I'm sorry,' Hermione said, biting her lip.

'Why are you sorry? You're trying to save my life,' Harry said quietly.

'Harry, you're not gonna die,' Hermione said again as she ripped his trouser leg open a little to get a look at the gash, it was deep, almost to the bone, but not yet infected.

'It's a wound caused by Sectumsempra,' Harry said, 'it won't heal, nothing will help it.'

'No,' Hermione corrected, 'something cut away with it can't be regrown. Nothing's been cut away, if only I knew a spell that would knit the skin back together...'

'Does your wand work?' Harry asked hopefully.

'Yes, doesn't yours?' Hermione asked with a frown.

Harry shook his head, 'How do you think I got this?'

'Who did it?' Hermione asked.

'Daphne,' Harry replied quickly.

Hermione sighed, 'Well there's only two careers left. That's something right?'

'You killed Theo, didn't you?' Harry asked, pain in his eyes.

Hermione frowned as she nodded, 'not directly…but with the Doxy's, yeah.'

Harry sighed and said, 'Thanks.'

'What do you mean?' Hermione asked in confusion.

'He was one of my best friends, I really didn't want to kill him,' Harry said honestly.

'Oh,' Hermione said, thinking of the moment the day before when she had been forced to kill her best friend.

'Hermione, if I'm going to die…I need to tell you-'

'You're not going to die Harry,' Hermione soothed, cutting him off.

'I remember the first time I saw you, do you know that?' Harry asked softly. Hermione shook her head.

'You were standing around awkwardly in the great hall waiting to be sorted. Your hair was so big and bushy back then,' he chuckled, 'and you looked like you were gonna throw up.'

'I felt like it too,' Hermione admitted.

'I saw you then, going up with your chin held high, and getting sorted into Gryffindor,' Harry said, swallowing hard, 'and I thought, that's the house I want to be in because she looks like the kind of person who won't care that I'm from District 2.'

Hermione smiled at this and said, 'And I didn't.'

'And you didn't,' Harry said in a whisper, 'thanks Hermione, for not caring.'

'I should be thanking you,' Hermione said with a chuckle, 'you saved my life that day.'

Harry smiled, but something else flashed in his eyes, 'What is it?' Hermione asked.

Harry just shook his head, 'Nothing,' he lied.

Hermione gave him a soft smile and lay down next to him, trying to work out a way to fix his leg, a spell, any spell but nothing came to her mind. The rest of the day was spent with Hermione going outside to find food and cooking it, then bringing it back and trying to feed Harry something, but he was getting worse. Paler, no appetite, he felt nauseous and dizzy. Hermione knew that she was losing him.

That night they watched the sky for faces, but none appeared and after the sky had darkened Umbridge's voice filled the arena once more.

'Attention tributes!' it trilled, 'tomorrow in the centre of the arena there will be something that you all need very much. As of sunrise the desirable objects will be within your grasp, good luck!'

Her voice vanished and Hermione looked at Harry, 'something for your leg.'

'You can't go,' Harry said quickly, 'you'd get killed.'

'I won't, I have a working wand. Only two other tributes do!' Hermione exclaimed, 'and I'm quick. I can do it, we can fix your leg.'

'Please Hermione,' Harry begged, 'please don't go. You have to win this thing, you can't die.'

'We could win now Harry,' Hermione said, 'you heard the other announcement didn't you?'

Harry nodded but said nothing, he had a feeling the announcement would change later in the games, but he was also working on a plan.

'Which is why you can't go, we need to get out of here together and that won't work if you die,' Harry said, trying to convince Hermione not to risk her life for him.

'Alright,' Hermione said, 'I won't go,' but she too was formulating a plan. When she was convinced Harry was fast asleep later on tonight she would slip away and make her way to the centre of the arena.

**TBC :)  
**


	7. The Victor

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 7 - The Victor of the 15th Annual Hunger Games**

As Hermione snuck her way towards the thicket she had hidden in when she destroyed the supplies she was pleased when she came across no opposition. The sun was just beginning to rise when she got there, and deciding that running out blind was stupid she waited it out behind a tree for a few minutes.

Just as Hermione was contemplating making a move Ron rushed out, sprinting across the wide open area and grabbing a bag from the centre with a 'H' emblazoned on it. After that nobody came for a while so Hermione ran out and she got to the bag with the big 'G' on it, but then someone jumped out on her.

It was Daphne.

Hermione tried to run, but she couldn't. Daphne shot a spell at her.

'Protego,' she muttered, conjuring up a powerful shield charm and throwing a curse back at her, 'Deprimo!'

The blasting curse missed Daphne and instead created a crater in the ground. It disorientated the Slytherin so Hermione tried to run away again but before she could get anywhere she felt a spell strike her in the back.

'CRUCIO!'

Hermione fell to the ground writhing and screaming in agony as her body contorted in ways it shouldn't. Daphne laughed as she stood over her, 'does it hurt Mudblood?' she spat.

Hermione didn't give her the satisfaction of an answer and tried to contain her moans and screams of pain.

'Where's lover boy now?' Daphne spat, 'I don't see him coming to save you. I don't see anyone coming to save you!' she laughed nastily once more and increased the curse, making Hermione's pain even worse. She felt like her limbs were being ripped away from her body as she screamed.

'Defodio!'

Hermione frowned as the curse causing her so much pain came to an end. She watched, horrified as a huge whole gauged itself into Daphne's stomach, blood was spurting out everywhere and she was dead in seconds followed swiftly by the boom of the cannon.

As she pushed herself shakily to her feet she saw Ron, the redhead standing across from her. He had a working wand and Hermione was sure that he would kill her.

'Just this once, I'll let you go,' Ron said gruffly, 'I admire what you did for Luna.'

Hermione nodded as he ran back into the forest and she followed suit, running back in the direction of the river and Harry. As she ran her legs began to give out, her body couldn't take anymore. The after effects of the curse she had just been subjected to were kicking in and her entire body felt weak and heavy.

Somehow Hermione managed to pull herself into the cave and when she did she wasn't surprised to see that Harry was awake.

'I told you not to go!' He said angrily.

'Well I did,' Hermione said simply, breathing heavily as she opened the bag that had been labelled for her. Inside it was a vial of potion and some cream.

'Drink this,' Hermione ordered as she uncorked it, 'it will numb the pain.'

Harry gave in and drank the potion because his pain was horrendous, but he was still angry at Hermione for lying to him.

'I heard the cannon,' Harry said weakly as Hermione rubbed the cream onto the horrible gash on his leg, 'I thought it was you.'

'It wasn't,' Hermione reassured him, 'it was Daphne.'

'Draco's the only career left?' Harry asked, wincing in pain as Hermione finished putting the cream on his wound.

Hermione nodded, 'There are only four of us left.'

'Who's the other one?' Harry asked, feeling out of touch with things.

'Ron, the Hufflepuff,' Hermione said, wincing as she leant back against the wall.

'Are _you _okay?' Harry asked with a frown.

'Fine,' Hermione said through gritted teeth.

'Stop lying Hermione, what happened?' Harry asked anxiously.

'Before Ron killed her, Daphne, she used the cruciatus curse on me,' Hermione said simply.

Harry's brow knitted, 'Hermione-'

'I'll be fine,' Hermione assured him as she kissed him lightly on the cheek, 'I just need some water and sleep.'

Harry's frown stayed in place as he leant up and grabbed Hermione's face. Gently he kissed her lips and after a moment of being frozen with shock Hermione responded. The kiss was slow and gentle and it didn't last very long but it said all that it needed to.

'What was that for?' Hermione asked in a stunned whisper.

'I thought the time was right,' Harry said simply, actually smiling at her for the first time in a while.

'Well if we're both gonna die I suppose the time is right,' Hermione said with a sarcastic chuckle.

'Hey, aren't you meant to be the optimist?' Harry asked with a raised eyebrow, 'you were right, we could both win. We're the only two left that are from the same house.'

Hermione nodded, 'Yeah, we are,' she said softly.

'So what's our plan of action?' Harry asked, pushing himself up a little.

'I need to have a nap,' Hermione said as she curled up next to him, 'I didn't get any sleep last night.'

'I'll keep watch,' Harry said, taking Hermione's wand, she nodded and gave him a muffled 'okay' as she drifted off into a painful, troubled sleep.

* * *

'Hermione, wake up,' Harry said quietly a few hours later.

'What's wrong?' Hermione asked, panicking immediately.

'Nothing, but we need food,' Harry said simply, 'we're completely out, and I thought it would be best to grab something before it got dark.'

Hermione nodded and pushed herself to her feet, 'yeah, that's a sensible idea. How long was I out?'

'A few hours,' Harry said with a smile as Hermione helped him to his feet, his leg looked and felt much better, 'by my reckoning it's just past noon.'

As they left their cave fortress they split up, Harry to find food and Hermione to hunt. They met up half an hour later outside the cave where they started a fire and cooked off the bird Hermione had caught. With their stomachs sufficiently full they put out the fire before it attracted any attention and sat in the mouth of the cave, waiting for the announcements to flash up in the sky.

As the mark materialized and the song played only one face appeared in the sky. It was Daphne's, backed by the Slytherin crest and the words 'District 1'.

'Well our fiercest competitor is out of the game,' Harry said with a yawn as they moved further into the tent, 'I guess that's good news.'

'I guess so,' Hermione admitted, thinking of the other two people they had to kill. Ron, who had spared her, and Draco, Harry's best friend.

'We'll start moving tomorrow,' Hermione said as she curled up against Harry, 'sleep off the effects of your potion, and give your leg a little more time to heal.'

Harry nodded at this, 'And then tomorrow the hunted become the hunters?'

'Yeah,' Hermione said softly, 'if we want to win we've got to kill people, right?'

'I guess so,' Harry said, echoing Hermione's earlier words.

* * *

The next morning they rose early and ate the remains of the food they had gathered. They both filled up their water bottles and then left their river solitude.

'Draco won't have strayed far from the centre,' Harry said quietly as they walked.

'I have no idea where Ron might be hiding out,' Hermione said with a frown as the sky began to darken.

'Why is it getting dark? It's early morning,' Harry said as he looked up.

'Something's going to happen,' Hermione realised as they cautiously walked on, 'something that only comes out at night.'

'Something like a werewolf,' Harry muttered, pointing to the full silver moon that had just materialized in the dark sky.

'There are only 4 of us,' Hermione said as they heard a howl somewhere behind them, 'they're trying to draw us into the centre so they can finish this off.'

'Run!' Harry yelled, spotting a large wolf-like creature bounding up behind them. They gripped hands tightly as they rushed through the undergrowth away from the creature. It was fast with long legs and it seemed to deflect all spells that Hermione sent back at it.

When it lunged she put up shield charms and for the most part they were okay, at worse they got its claws sometimes.

When they emerged in the centre of the arena however things went from bad to worse as the werewolves came out of all the different sections of the forest. Harry and Hermione backed into the centre, they were surrounded by 6 huge, howling lethal looking werewolves and somehow they had to figure out a spell that would kill them in the few seconds they had before the werewolves ripped them apart.

It was then that they realised they weren't alone, cowering a little to the left of them was Ron as the werewolves advanced on him, 3 of them.

'Any ideas?' Hermione asked Harry, panicking slightly.

'Yes!' Harry yelled, 'but don't freak out!'

'Why would I-' Hermione began to say but then she screeched as Harry transformed into a large stag right in front of her.

Harry, in his stag form charged at the werewolves, scaring some back into the forest and stabbing the others with his antlers, causing them to reel back into the forest or fall to the ground writhing in pain.

Hermione was frozen with shock as she stared at Harry in his animagus form, she hadn't even know he was one. Clearly he wasn't registered, but this made sense of one thing. He had wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, which was why he had trained alone.

'We should help him!' Hermione said, rushing over to Ron who was getting attacked viciously by the wolves, they were shredding his skin with their sharp claws and were about to gouge out his eyes when Hermione reached them. Harry charged at the wolves, spearing two and throwing them viciously from his antlers and sending the other squealing back into the forest.

Harry transformed back into his human form and Hermione said, 'You could have told me you were an animagus!'

'Sorry, it was a secret,' Harry said a little sheepishly.

* * *

'James would be so proud of him right now,' Sirius said with tears in his eyes as they watched this play out on their screens.

'James was a stag too, wasn't he?' Amelia asked, she was teary too.

Sirius nodded, 'and James saved someone's life just like that, from a werewolf,' he told his wife.

'I guess he's more like his Father than he knows,' Amelia said simply.

'Yeah, he is,' Sirius said, and his thoughts were with Remus who he hadn't seen for about 14 years now. Remus, his best friend, who he didn't even know anymore. He didn't know if he was safe, or even if he was alive. Nothing was heard of District 6, it was never talked about and never mentioned and that worried Sirius. He sighed as he looked back to the screen, watching the boy he considered as a son.

'He could win, he could come back,' Amelia said, her voice shaking.

'He might,' Sirius said, thinking about the girl in the arena with Harry. She was raising a stir, causing a rebellion amongst the Districts. People were concerned, 4 had already rebelled and had paid heavily for it. there were rumors that 5 was on its way to doing the same. Even here in 2 things were getting a little heated, the familiar pang at the fact Voldemort did this to Purebloods and not just Half-bloods and Muggle-borns was coming up in discussion more and more again.

The uprising Sirius had wondered about when this regime began all those years ago was becoming a reality and when it happened, Sirius was going to make sure that he would be a part of it.

* * *

Back in the arena a whimper made Harry and Hermione look towards Ron who was lying on the ground bleeding heavily from huge gashes to his arms, legs, chest and face.

'Harry,' Ron choked out, 'give me a little,' he coughed and blood spurted out of his mouth, 'dignity…please.'

Harry frowned and knelt down next to the Hufflepuff, 'You could heal, if you had medicine-'

'I don't get sponsors,' Ron said gruffly, 'I'm a Weasley, nobody has any faith in me.'

Harry felt his throat constrict at this, and Ron said, 'Look, I want to die with dignity, don't leave me here to slowly bleed to death.'

'Okay,' Harry said weakly, taking the wand he and Hermione were sharing and raising it.

'Tell Charlie for me,' Ron said, swallowing and coughing up some more blood, 'tell him that I'm proud of him, no matter what he thinks. When you win, tell him that. Okay?'

'I will, I promise,' Harry said a little tearfully.

'Make it quick and painless,' Ron said quietly.

Harry nodded and with one swift wand movement said, 'Avada Kedavra'. The green flash of light caused Harry to have another flashback or vision of a woman screaming as the green light consumed her. He frowned and pushed it to the back of his mind as he looked down at the dead Hufflepuff. The cannon sounded, making his death official.

The darkness vanished and the day became light again. Swallowing a lump in his throat Harry raised his wand for Ron and Hermione did the same. Both in a show of respect for the Hufflepuff boy. Little did they know it, but this was small show of respect was sparking something much bigger in District 5.

* * *

Arthur watched his son die at the pub he often drank at. When he died and the cannon sounded the barman raised his wand, and his son who was pulling pints followed suit. Then his daughter who was working in the backroom came through and did the same.

Arthur raised his own wand, swallowing his tears and pain. Within seconds everyone in the pub had raised their wands and then it began, a rebellion, just like in District 4. Of course there was no communication between the districts so people in 5 had no clue that 4 had rebelled.

They left the pub and they rioted in the streets, attacking and fighting with the guards, even killing them in extreme cases. It was worse than the rebellion in 4, more violent, fueled by much more hate. Life in 4 wasn't great, but life in 5 was truly a living hell.

The miners left the pits, nobody went back down. They refused to work, they let themselves get beaten. Arthur who was at the head of the march was grabbed and beaten to a bloody pulp by the guards until a group of men overpowered those guards and killed them.

The streets were running with blood, women and children hid in their houses. If Voldemort had been concerned with what had happened in District 4, then this was the start of a war in his mind.

* * *

In the arena Harry and Hermione were aware there was only one person left to kill, and that person just happened to be Harry's best friend.

'When the time comes, do you want me to do it?' Hermione asked as they slipped back into the forest to search for Draco.

'I don't know if I can,' Harry admitted quietly.

'Okay,' Hermione said softly, and they didn't talk for the next hour or so as they surveyed the perimeter around the centre. They found nothing and they grew hungry and had to take a break to hunt and eat.

'It will be over soon,' Harry said as he chewed the roast rabbit Hermione had prepared.

'Yeah, in a day, maybe two,' Hermione agreed.

'Do you really think we'll go home, together?' Harry asked, looking into Hermione's eyes.

'All I can do is hope,' she said honestly.

Night fell and the sky lit up with Voldemort's mark and the music. Ron's face appeared in the sky, backed with the Hufflepuff crest and the words 'District 5'. Harry and Hermione were both silent as they stared at the sky, for minutes after his face had vanished.

'We'll find him tomorrow,' Hermione said as the sky got pitch black. They put up some protective charms and took turns sleeping and keeping watch until day broke.

* * *

'How many people have you killed Hermione?' Harry asked as dawn broke on day 12.

Hermione frowned, 'Why?'

'I just want to know,' Harry said honestly.

'Directly, two,' Hermione said, 'and if you count the Doxy attack, three.'

'Who?' Harry asked.

'Susan and Justin,' Hermione said quietly.

'Is it hard? Killing someone who your friends with?' Harry asked curiously.

'It's very hard,' Hermione said in a choked voice, 'but Justin was dead anyway…he'd had the dementors kiss.'

'Oh,' Harry realised, 'so you were ending his suffering.'

Hermione nodded, her throat constricted with grief.

'I brutally killed that 15 year old Ravenclaw,' Harry said painfully, 'and then I killed Terry too…he was begging with me to spare him.'

'If you hadn't killed them someone else would have,' Hermione reasoned.

'Regardless of what happens Hermione, the games have changed me,' Harry said in a choked voice, 'they've turned me into a monster.'

'You're not a monster,' Hermione said softly as she hugged her friend, 'you did what you had to do to survive. And what you did for Ron was noble, you let him die with his dignity intact.'

Harry nodded and pushed himself to his feet, it was clear that he didn't believe anything Hermione was saying, 'come on,' he said gruffly, 'we've got to find Draco.'

'Okay,' Hermione said as she too got to her feet and followed Harry through the forest. They both had wands now, Harry had taken Ron's after he left, but they knew Draco would have a wand too so they made sure they were particularly careful.

After spending all morning walking around the forest Harry gave in, 'Come on,' he sighed, 'let's wait in the centre. He'll come in eventually, and if he doesn't they'll make sure something draws him in.'

Hermione yawned and nodded, following Harry back into the centre of the arena which was empty. They sat down back to back so they could watch the forest on both sides and they waited.

Noon came and went and the afternoon bore on with nothing of interest happening. It was going to get dark soon when he appeared, stumbling aimlessly out of the forest and walking directly towards Harry and Hermione.

'What the hell is he doing?' Hermione muttered as the Slytherin walked towards them.

'I don't know,' Harry said honestly. They both had their wands trained on the boy but he hadn't even raised his yet.

When he got within 6 feet of them Draco stopped and looked up, catching Harry's eye.

'So we're the last 3,' he said.

Harry nodded, 'Yeah.'

'And you can both win, because you're both from Gryffindor,' Draco said, his eyes boring into Harry's.

Harry nodded again and said, 'Yeah, we can.'

'You knew? Didn't you?' Draco asked quietly, he wasn't even acknowledging Hermione, 'about Daphne and I.'

'I knew you were together,' Harry said softly, 'I've known since 4th year Draco, we all have.'

Draco sighed heavily and said, 'Then maybe you will understand why I want you to kill me.'

'What?' Harry asked sharply.

'I don't want to win. Do you think I want to live in a world where I'm eternally alone? Daphne's dead Harry…we planned to get married after school and spend our lives together,' Draco shook his head as if to shake away the tortured memories, 'look at the state of your mentor, if you don't kill me that's how I'll end up.'

'Draco, I can't kill you,' Harry said in a strangled voice, 'you're my best friend.'

'Then help me,' Draco begged, 'put me out of my misery and let me die with dignity.'

'How are you going to die with dignity if I kill you?' Harry asked with a deep frown.

'I propose a duel,' Draco said, 'a duel to the death.'

'How do you know I'll win?' Harry asked carefully.

'I don't,' Draco said honestly, 'but I've seen you duel before and I think we both know you're far superior.'

'Draco Malfoy, admitting I'm better at something?' Harry said with a weak chuckle, 'wow you really must be desperate.'

Draco smiled faintly, 'So what do you say?' he asked as he held his hand out to Harry, 'one last stand?'

Feeling his heart sink Harry nodded weakly and took Draco's hand, 'If you're sure it's what you want,' he said.

'I'm sure,' Draco said as he and Harry shook hands.

Hermione had been silent throughout the exchange and even now she watched on in curious silence.

'Hermione, be duel master?' Harry asked his friend.

Hermione nodded, 'Of course,' she said as she pushed herself to her feet.

She raised her wand and marked out the dueling area, adding two 'X's.

'Harry, over there,' Hermione directed and Harry nodded, moving to the X. Draco had already moved to stand on the other X.

'Walk to each other,' Hermione directed, her heart pounding as the two boys walked towards each other and came to a stop.

'Bow,' Hermione said.

Harry and Draco bowed to each other and Draco murmured, 'Thank you, for doing this. When it comes time, make it quick.'

Harry nodded and then on Hermione's orders they turned and walk back to their 'X's. On her count the duel began and there wasn't a peaceful period before the lethal spells came out. From the get-go the spells were pretty brutal.

Hermione watched anxiously as Harry and Draco started throwing spells at each other. She watched as Harry conjured arrows and shot them towards Draco. The Slytherin was quick and conjured fire, burning them out of the air.

Draco then sent a blasting curse towards Harry's head which Harry ducked to avoid. The curse blasted past him, setting some trees alight. Hermione's heart was racing as she took a step back and watched the fast paced duel.

Harry froze the ground beneath Draco after that and sent a tripping jinx towards the boy, he nearly fell but caught himself and managed to put a shield charm up. Seconds after his near fall he sent a cutting curse through the air towards Harry in a flash of red. Hermione gasped as the spell caught Harry a little on his right arm.

He winced and shouted, 'Sectumsempra!'

Draco raised a shield charm, but the curse easily burned through it and he was thrown to the ground, cuts covering his body and blood slowly seeping out.

Harry made his way over to his friend and fell to his knees in his blood. He was alive, but he was fading away quickly.

'Well done,' Draco choked out with a weak smile, 'I knew you were going to win.'

Harry had tears in his eyes as he stared at his best friend as he lay dying on the cold ground.

'Harry,' Draco said softly, meeting his friends eyes, 'please. End this.'

Harry nodded, his throat constricting as he raised his wand and aimed it at Draco. He knew he would be ending Draco's suffering by killing him this way, but at the end of the day he was still killing his best friend.

'Please,' Draco all but begged.

Swallowing his pain Harry trained his wand at Draco's chest and uttered, 'Avada Kedavra!'

The flash of green light almost blinded Harry and he was forced to shut his eyes, as he did he heard it again, more clearly than ever before.

_HARRY! Sirius, save Harry! _

_REMUS! GRAB HARRY!_

Harry forced his eyes open, drowning out the screaming. He assumed he was remembering his parent's deaths, he had been in the house. He had heard them scream out and shout out to Harry's Godfather as they were murdered.

The cannon sounded and Harry and Hermione stared at each other, waiting for the announcement that stated they had won, but it never came.

Umbridge's voice filled the arena, 'Attention tributes!' she trilled, 'there has been a change in the rules! The previous rule change allowing two victors from the same house has been retracted. Only won can win, may the odds be _ever _in your favour.'

Harry and Hermione stared at each other, horrified as they realised that one of them would have to kill the other.

'Kill me,' Harry said, dropping his wand, 'go on.'

'No,' Hermione whispered, 'no, I can't do it.'

'Why not?' Harry asked, 'you're the strong one, you've always been the strong one.'

'No I haven't,' Hermione said, her eyes filling up with tears, 'I won't kill you Harry, I…I love you,' she choked out.

Harry smiled weakly, 'and I love you too Hermione, but one of us should go home and it should be you.'

'I have nothing back home,' Hermione whispered, 'you have more to lose. You should go home, for your Godfather and your sister if not for anything else.'

'They'll survive,' Harry said simply.

'What if neither of us win?' Hermione asked carefully as she picked up Harry's wand and handed it to him. She muttered something under her breath and Harry frowned.

'What are you doing?' he asked.

'Give me your hand,' Hermione said and Harry did so, she pricked the skin on his thumb and then did the same to her own. She pressed their thumbs together and then told Harry to raise his wand.

* * *

'No!' Umbridge exclaimed as she realised what was happening, 'we have to stop this! They intend to both die, we have to have a victor!'

'What do you propose?' a gamemaker asked as the control room descended into chaos.

'I...I don't know,' Umbridge said, now in full on panic.

* * *

'I make a blood bond,' Hermione said after mumbling the incantation, 'that I Hermione Spencer, will not kill Harry James Potter. Should this bond be broken, I myself shall die.'

A red fog came out of both Harry and Hermione's wands and enveloped them. When it vanished the deal was sealed.

Harry swallowed and dropped his wand once more.

'Together?' he asked.

Hermione nodded, raising her wand and aiming it at Harry's chest, 'Avada Keda-'

'Ladies and gentlemen!' the unsettled, not so squeaky voice of Umbridge said over the system, 'may I present to you the winners of the 15th annual Hunger Games!'

Harry and Hermione stared at each other with disbelief. They couldn't believe their plan had actually worked as they launched themselves at each other and kissed like they never had before.

* * *

'You've pissed off a lot of people,' Charlie said the moment he saw Harry and Hermione for the first time. They had been taken out of the arena and separated immediately to get made over again so that they looked pretty. They were only now coming together again at the apartment for the first time in what felt like days.

'Why?' Hermione asked.

'You survived,' Charlie said as he drank from his hipflask, 'both of you.'

'And they didn't have their sole victor,' Hermione said rolling her eyes.

'This is serious!' Charlie snapped, 'what you two did in there has serious repercussions, not just for you, for all us!'

Hermione frowned, not understanding quite how bad the situation was. Charlie continued, 'you showed them up, you beat their game, and in the capitol that doesn't bode well.'

'What are you saying Charlie?' Harry asked tentatively.

'I'm saying from now on you two should watch your back,' Charlie warned, 'because they won't forget about you, _nobody _will forget about you. You got them, and you can mark my words right now Lord Voldemort will be in a room somewhere with his council trying to forget how to get you right back.'

Hermione swallowed, looking to Harry who was slightly pale.

'So what do we do?' Hermione asked anxiously.

'You have the interview tonight, the winners interview,' Charlie said, looking stressed and less drunk than usual, 'at that interview you are going to have to convince the entire world that what you did was because of love.'

'It was!' Harry exclaimed, 'it was because we didn't want to live without each other!'

'I know you believe that Harry,' Charlie said honestly, 'but I think we all know love wasn't the only reason you did it Spencer.'

Hermione frowned, Charlie was right, part of it _had _been because she didn't want to live without Harry, but the main reason she had wanted them both to die was to show Voldemort that he didn't own them, to show him that someone could beat his game.

'See those thoughts you're having,' Charlie whispered, 'they're dangerous, stop them.'

Hermione nodded and after that Charlie left. Harry frowned as he looked to Hermione, 'you don't love me?'

'Of course I love you Harry,' Hermione said honestly and she truly meant it, 'but Charlie's right, that wasn't the only reason I did what I did.'

'You wanted to show them,' Harry said with a nod, 'I know, I did too,' he said in an undertone.

'We did,' Hermione said quietly.

'And look at the trouble we've caused,' Harry said with a sigh, 'our families…your sister, my Godfather and his wife, Scarlett…everyone is in danger because of us.'

'I'm sorry,' Hermione whispered.

'I'm sorry too,' Harry said.

* * *

'They'll ask why you did it,' Charlie said quietly to Hermione as Harry was getting his last touches done to his suit for the interview.

'And what do you want me to say?' Hermione whispered.

'Tell them that you were so in love with him that you couldn't help it. That you'd rather die than win and live without him,' Charlie urged her, 'and try and mean it.'

'It's the truth,' Hermione said.

'The partial truth,' Charlie revised, 'and as long as they don't see that, it will be fine. Okay?'

'Okay,' Hermione said, her heart beating faster than ever.

Despite the fact she had survived the hunger games she was still nervous about going on stage and getting interviewed in front of a big audience.

'You ready?' Harry asked as he appeared by her side, slipping his hand into hers.

'No,' Hermione said honestly as she took a shaky breath.

'It will be fine,' Harry assured her and before she had any more time to freak out Rita Skeeter said from the stage.

'Ladies and gentlemen, give me a big hand for our winners! Harry Potter and Hermione Spencer!'

The crowd went wild as Harry and Hermione walked onto the stage, waving and smiling to the people in the audience as they took their seat across from Rita on a small sofa that had them sitting incredibly close together.

It took a moment or two for the crowd to quiet down but when they did Rita asked the first question, 'How did you feel, Hermione,' she began with a big grin, 'when you found Harry dying by the river?'

'I was relieved at first,' Hermione said with a soft smile, 'but then I was so afraid that he was going to die from his injury. I thought after finding him that I was going to lose him.'

'And how did you feel Harry,' Rita said chirpily, 'when Hermione found you?'

'I was sure I was going to die,' Harry said honestly, 'and I was just so relieved when I knew I would see Hermione one last time and get the chance to tell her how I felt.'

'But of course you didn't die, because Hermione risked her life to get a cure for your leg,' Rita said eagerly.

Harry nodded and said, 'When I woke up and she was gone I knew exactly what she was doing, and when I heard that cannon go off…I don't think I've ever been so afraid in my life.'

'What did it feel like when you were both announced as winners?' Rita asked, still beaming.

Hermione smiled at Harry, 'I've never been happier in my life,' she said honestly, 'I went from thinking I'd never see the person I loved again to being able to envision the rest of my life with him.'

Harry returned her smile and slipped his hand into hers, and the crowd aww-ed at this, even Rita looked close to tears.

'So will we be hearing wedding bells in the future?' Rita asked hopefully.

Hermione chuckled and said, 'Maybe not the near future, we are still in school after all.'

Harry grinned and said, 'Oh, it may be nearer in the future than she thinks Rita.'

The crowd of course ate this up and went wild, Hermione blushed a little as Harry grinned broadly at her. The interview was wrapped up after this and Harry and Hermione were taken to the stage in front of Buckingham palace to be presented with crowns and officially pronounced the victors. They didn't talk much, both of them nervous about the ceremony and how close they would be to Lord Voldemort who had of course killed Harry's parents.

As they stood on the stage, the crowd roared and cheered. Lord Voldemort dressed head to toe in black robes lifted a crown in his gloved hands and walked towards Hermione.

'Congratulations,' he said smoothly.

'Thank you,' Hermione said stiffly as the overpowering smell of decay reached her nostrils.

'Do you know, my dear,' Voldemort said silkily, 'that you are the first Mudblood to win my games?'

'No,' Hermione said, 'I didn't.'

'I would not let it occupy your pretty little head,' Voldemort said, 'after all, it will not happen again.'

Hermione frowned slightly as he made his way back to the table and picked up the other crown, walking over to Harry with it.

* * *

'Congratulations Mr. Potter,' Voldemort said smoothly as he placed the crown on his head.

'Thank you,' Harry said with a polite nod.

'I believe you are aware that I was involved in the _unfortunate _demise of your parents,' Voldemort said in a tone of voice that was so quiet it was almost a whisper.

Harry only nodded once more.

'Ah, good,' Voldemort said, 'I think I ought to let you know that they were meddlesome too, and that did not get them very far now, did it?'

Harry pursed his lips, refusing to answer the question.

'You may have escaped me that night Potter,' Voldemort hissed, 'but I assure you that it _will not _happen again.'

Harry swallowed hard as Voldemort stepped back and turned to the crowd, officially pronouncing Harry and Hermione as the winners of the 15th annual hunger games. They went wild and then everything happened so fast.

They were transported by Charlie towards the train station where they boarded the same train they had arrived on. In a flurry of waving from the window they were finally leaving the capitol.

'You're not going home yet,' Charlie said gruffly as he sank down into a seat.

'What?' Hermione asked with a frown, 'what do you mean?'

'I mean we've got the victory tour now,' Charlie said as if this were obvious, 'we take you to every district and _then _you can go home.'

'And by home do you mean Hogwarts?' Harry asked with a sigh.

'Yes, I do,' Charlie said simply, 'Hogwarts is the last stop, after District 5.'

'What do you mean by _we_?' Hermione asked in confusion.

'Evelyn and Phillip are here too,' Charlie said offhandedly, 'you've got a different outfit for every District, you're going to need your stylists.'

'How long is this going to take?' Hermione asked impatiently. The last little while had gone so slowly, she couldn't quite believe that it was only the 20th of September, her birthday had passed and she hadn't even realised it until now, she was 17 years old.

'A week, maybe longer,' Charlie said, drinking from his hipflask, 'when it's over you go back to Hogwarts and get on with your lives, separately or otherwise.'

Hermione nodded, frowning as she sat down heavily in a chair, 'I just want it to be over Charlie,' she said, feeling defeated.

Charlie actually gave her a genuine smile, 'Don't we all darlin'?'

* * *

'Enter!'

Dolores Umbridge took a shaky breath as she walked into the office of Lord Voldemort. She curtseyed when she saw him and said, 'You asked me here my Lord?'

'You were foolish,' Voldemort hissed, 'for allowing the situation to get so out of hand.'

'I apologise my Lord, there was nothing I could do-' Umbridge said pitifully.

'Did you not make an oath Dolores, when I hired you, that you would do all in your power to prevent an uprising such as this one?' Voldemort asked, narrowing his blood red eyes at her.

'I…yes my Lord, I did,' Umbridge said.

'And you have not lived up to that oath,' Voldemort said angrily.

'I…I am sorry my lord,' Umbridge began.

'Sorry is not an excuse Dolores,' Voldemort said smoothly, 'now, as punishment for allowing yourself to be fooled by a 17 year old girl and a 16 your old boy, I command you to attempt to kill me.'

'But m…my lord. If I try and kill you I shall die,' Umbridge said with wide eyes. Every employee under Lord Voldemort had to make an unbreakable vow that they would never try to kill him. If Umbridge cast the killing curse anywhere near Voldemort she would die herself.

'That is the plan Dolores,' Voldemort said with a smirk, 'after all. That is how those two teenagers would have outsmarted us.'

Umbridge floundered for a moment then nodded, raising her wand and casting the curse. Voldemort of course stepped out of the way, but the damage was done for Umbridge who screamed in agony and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

**TBC :)  
**

_**A/N: I'm sort of leaving out the second book of HG is this crossover. There will be the victory tour but there won't be a second games because obviously it's the 15**__**th**__** year so the one after isn't going to be significant. I have no idea how long this story will be, as long as it takes to write out the whole plot I guess. I'm focusing more on the rebellion than the tour, but it will be covered in a chapter or two then after that we get into full on war mode. Boo ya.**_

_**Hope you're enjoying the story so far, and thanks for reading!**_

_**Holly**_


	8. Rebel Yell

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 8 - Rebel Yell**

_**A/N: Sorry that it took so long for the update! I've just started my third year of university and I made the foolish mistake of thinking it wouldn't be any different from second year, but oh my lord it is so much harder! Anyway, here's a chapter, there are a couple more on the way in the coming week. I hope you enjoy it! :D**_

_**Holly**_

* * *

'First stop, District 1.'

'Charlie, what are we actually supposed to do when we get there?' Harry asked in exasperation over breakfast. It had been a couple of days since they left the capitol. The centre of District 1 was only a few hours away by train, so they had been stopped for a while. It was supposedly to give Harry and Hermione a chance to recuperate.

'You get off the train and are taken to the city hall,' Charlie yawned, 'then you give a speech in front of the people of that district and the Mayor gives you flowers.'

'That's all?' Harry asked.

'Yeah that's all,' Hermione muttered sarcastically, 'we _just _have to stand and give a speech in front of the families of the people we murdered.'

'The families are there?' Harry asked Charlie in surprise.

'In the front row,' He confirmed nonchalantly.

'At least you didn't kill Daphne,' Harry said, biting his lip.

'No, someone else killed her to stop her killing me,' Hermione said darkly, 'that's _so _much better.'

'Spencer, quit the sarcasm and go make yourself look pretty,' Charlie said with a smirk, 'we'll be there soon.'

Rolling her eyes Hermione left the compartment to find Phillip.

'Is she okay?' Harry asked, frowning at Hermione's retreating back.

'She's fine,' Charlie said as he too got to his feet, 'she's dealing with her pain through sarcasm. It's good, you should try it sometime,' he added as he patted Harry on the shoulder and left the compartment.

* * *

'So what's this speech supposed to go like Charlie?' Hermione asked, looking out of the window as the train pulled into District 1. It was luxurious, as expected, with large mansion houses and paved roads. Everyone was walking around in good quality clothing, wrapped up warm in the cold weather.

'It's pretty simple,' Charlie said, 'you say thank you to the people of the district, say your both honored to be there as the victors. Then you thank them for the flowers and you can add in a personal bit at the end if you want.'

'I thought there was supposed to be a dinner, in each district,' Harry said with a frown.

'There should be,' Charlie admitted, 'but you two have caused quite an upset in some districts.'

'Because we both won?' Harry asked with a familiar sigh.

'No, for the same reasons you pissed the capitol off. You beat the game, District 1 in particular is close with the capitol, so I think it's best for everyone involved if the dinner doesn't happen,' Charlie admitted as the train stopped at the train station in District 1.

'You ready?' Harry asked Hermione who nodded. She felt a little nervous and ridiculously over-dressed in an emerald green gown. Harry was lucky, he just had to wear a suit with a green silk tie.

Harry slipped his hand into Hermione's as they walked off of the train and were met by an official who walked them towards the city hall. Charlie trailed behind them, occasionally drinking from his hipflask when he thought nobody was looking. He was getting better, sober more often. He had been ever since they reached the capitol, before the games had even started. Hermione had a feeling she knew why, they were in danger, all of them, he needed to be more alert.

As Harry and Hermione stood inside the city hall, waiting for the doors to open so they could walk out onto the stage, Hermione felt like she might throw up. Only Daphne had been from this district, and Hermione may not have killed her, but she still had to see her family today. That family had lost a daughter who they loved dearly.

The doors opened and hand-in-hand Harry and Hermione walked out. There was barely any applause as they took the stage and Hermione was handed flowers by the Mayor of the district. Harry did the speech mostly, thanking the people of the district for the flowers and apologising for what they had lost.

All Hermione did was chip in at the end that they were honoured to be here. But she knew for a fact that she wasn't honoured to be there. All she saw from that stage was a blond-haired woman crying as a dark-haired man had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, Daphne's parents. She even had a little sister at Hogwarts, Hermione felt miserable on the stage.

When they were back on the train she sighed in relief and sank down heavily onto the sofa, 'I understand why you drink now Charlie,' she muttered.

Charlie gave a bitter laugh, 'Oh you don't understand the half of it,' he said.

'When do we visit District 2?' Harry asked with a sigh.

'Tomorrow,' Charlie answered, 'so you should at least try and get some sleep,' he added, leaving them alone in the compartment.

'You'll see Sirius and Amelia tomorrow,' Hermione said, trying to think of something good about this victory tour.

'Yeah,' Harry agreed, 'but I'll also see Draco's Mother, and Theo's parents.'

'And Penelope Crouch's family, the little girl,' Hermione added with a sigh, 'she was from 2.'

'I killed Draco,' Harry said in a broken voice, 'and his Mother is going to look at me with…I don't know what in her eyes.'

'I killed Theodore,' Hermione said with a frown, 'I understand how you feel.'

'It changes you, murder,' Harry said as he got to his feet, 'regardless of whether it was for self-defence or not. You've changed.'

'So have you,' Hermione said simply.

'I know,' Harry said, 'see you tomorrow.'

'See you,' Hermione said miserably as Harry left her alone in the compartment.

* * *

Breakfast the next day was a quiet affair. Harry and Hermione weren't eating, they were barely even talking. This victory tour was slowly tearing them apart, they had both changed. Winning the hunger games changed everyone, they had known that from the moment they were reaped. In that moment in the arena when they were announced the winners everything had seemed great, like it would be perfect because they had won and they were together finally.

They were only now beginning to realise how much had changed, how much the games had changed them. Looking at the previous victors, hardly any married, next to none had children, they were all alone and paranoid, or drunken assholes like Charlie.

'What's with the icy air?' Charlie asked, breaking the tension.

Harry shrugged and didn't say anything.

'Guess the love story isn't quite as magical as it seemed,' Hermione muttered.

Charlie frowned, 'What changed?'

'I don't know, ask Hermione,' Harry said as he got to his feet, 'after all she's the one whose turned to ice lately.'

As Harry stormed out of the compartment Hermione groaned and Charlie actually laughed.

'Love story not so perfect anymore?' He asked with a smirk.

'I was sure there was something there,' Hermione admitted with a frown, 'I'm still sure something is, but things have changed…ever since the games.'

'You're realising what every victor does,' Charlie said honestly, 'that you're not the same person who went into that arena.'

'Yeah,' Hermione said quietly, 'that's exactly what I'm realising.'

'Go easy on Potter,' Charlie said, 'you might not be sure how you feel about him, but he's completely sure he's in love with you.'

'How can you tell?' Hermione asked with a frown.

'I can see when a persons in love Spencer, I might be an alcoholic, but I'm a perceptive one,' Charlie said with a smile as he left the compartment.

* * *

'I'm sorry,' Hermione said quietly to Harry as the train pulled into District 2.

'Me too,' Harry admitted, looking out at the familiar country houses with a hint of a smile.

'Don't give up on me,' Hermione whispered, catching Harry's eye and looking a little teary, 'I'm trying to get my head back in order…but everything's messed up.'

'They affected you worse than me,' Harry said as he slipped his hand into Hermione's, 'the games.'

'Yeah, I think they did,' Hermione admitted as she hugged Harry, clinging to the one thing that hadn't changed since the games. Harry himself had changed, but the fact he was still her best friend hadn't, the fact he still loved her hadn't. And as much as Hermione was doubting the things going on in her head she knew deep down the fact she loved him too hadn't changed either.

'You ready for this?' Hermione asked as the train stopped at the station.

'No,' Harry said honestly, 'are you?'

'Bloody hell no,' Hermione muttered, making Harry smile, and his smile made her smile too.

As the doors opened and they were met by someone Harry knew, Hermione stayed quiet. They were led into the city hall and like in District 1 they waited inside until the doors opened. When they did there was actually some cheering because Harry was from here, and he was a victor. Despite everything else that had happened at least something good had happened to this district.

Like in 1, the Mayor of 2 gave Hermione some flowers and again she let Harry do a lot of the talking since this was his home at the end of the day.

'Thank you,' Harry said with a smile as his eyes searched the front row, 'to the people of District 2 for supporting me. Thank you the lovely flowers, and I personally apologise for those who were lost to the games.'

His eyes went to the front row where he saw a weeping Narcissa Black-Malfoy and Theo's parents crying on each other's shoulders. And next to them the parents of the little girl Penelope Crouch, were crying too.

'On a personal note, I want to apologise to Mrs. Black,' Harry said, catching Narcissa's eye, 'Draco was my best friend, and I never wanted to hurt him, let alone...kill him. But he once told me how lonely his Mother had been since his Father died, and that if anything ever happened to Daphne, he didn't want to be that way. I guess his last wishes were to be with her, and he got that. I know it doesn't change what happened, but I hope it provides some closure.'

He hadn't looked away from Narcissa as he spoke, and although she was still crying she gave Harry a weak smile and nodded. He was even pretty sure he saw her mouth 'thank you' to him.

As Hermione finished the speech she gripped Harry's hand tighter. He was scanning the crowd, Hermione knew that, she knew who he was looking for and she had looked for them too.

'Come on,' Hermione whispered as she pulled Harry off of the stage, 'we need to leave.'

Harry let himself be pulled away, he didn't talk until they were on the train, and then it all came out in an angry explosion that for some reason was aimed at Charlie.

'WHERE THE HELL IS MY GODFATHER?'

'How the hell am I supposed to know?' Charlie asked as he swigged from his hipflask.

'Why wasn't he there Charlie?' Harry asked angrily, 'did they kill him? Because of us?'

'No,' Charlie said, shutting the door and checking no one was listening, 'he's waiting for us, but I can't tell you where.'

'Why not?' Harry asked, still angry.

'Because I'll ruin everything if I do,' Charlie hissed, 'you've got to trust me here. He's safe and you'll see him soon, okay?'

Harry nodded, but Hermione was frowning, 'Something bigger is happening, isn't it?' she asked, 'because of what we did in the arena?'

'Something bigger than either of you can imagine,' Charlie confirmed darkly.

* * *

'Harry?'

Harry was lying in bed awake, staring at the ceiling when the door to his bedroom creaked open and Hermione walked in.

'Hey Hermione,' Harry said softly as she padded towards him in her slippers.

'Can I stay with you tonight?' she asked in a whisper.

Harry nodded and pulled the covers aside so she could crawl in, she curled up to his side, shaking slightly.

'Are you having nightmares?' He asked as his hand automatically went to her hair.

Hermione only nodded, saying no more for a while, 'they aren't nightmares,' she admitted, 'they're memories.'

'Of the games?' Harry asked gently.

Hermione nodded again, 'I keep seeing Luna die…or Theodore being attacked by the Doxy's…'

'I know the feeling,' Harry said honestly, 'whenever I try and sleep I see myself kill Draco all over again.'

'His Mother accepted it though, that you killed him for love, didn't she?' Hermione asked quietly.

'Yeah, but it doesn't change the fact I killed him,' Harry said simply, 'so what do you think tomorrow will be like?'

Hermione knew he was changing the subject but she didn't pick him up on it, 'District 3? I don't know.'

'Neither do I,' Harry said, 'I know it's all Purebloods, but I've heard it's not as nice as 1 or 2.'

'I bet it's still a whole load nicer than 4 or 5,' Hermione muttered under her breath.

'Yeah,' Harry said, his mind elsewhere, 'yeah you're probably right.'

* * *

When the train pulled into District 3 the following day it turned out that Hermione and Harry had both been right. The houses here weren't quite as big or luxurious as those in 1 and 2, but it was a vast improvement on the place Hermione called home.

'Remember,' Charlie said as they got off the train and were met by a guide, 'take the flowers, do the speech, hold hands and look like you're in love.'

Harry and Hermione both smiled slightly, 'Thanks for the advice Charlie,' Hermione said a little sarcastically.

They reached the city hall and like in the last two districts waited inside for the doors to open. When they did they walked out and got a pretty dire welcoming. The Mayor handed them flowers, Harry did most of the speech and Hermione finished it off. They bowed and they left. No small-talk, no chit-chat, and no dinner.

Within no time they were back on the train which was a relief for everyone involved. District 3 had been the easiest so far because no tributes had come from that district this year, so they hadn't had to face the families of the people they had killed.

'How long till we do 4?' Hermione asked as she sat down heavily.

'Couple of days,' Charlie replied, 'it's a bit further away with its centre being in the north.'

'And the same thing there?' Harry asked.

'Pretty much,' Charlie said simply, 'although you might want to make some personal comments there, a lot of the tributes who died were from 4.'

'Great,' Hermione muttered.

'What's your problem Spencer?' Charlie asked sarcastically, 'is it the personal part or the articulating part?'

'Both,' Hermione replied glumly making Harry smile slightly.

'Just make it up on the spot,' Harry said as he patted her on the shoulder, 'that's when you're at your best.'

'Improvisation is my forte,' Hermione said with a chuckle as she thought about how miserable it would be in District 4. She counted off in her head the amount of people who had died in the arena from there, in the end she was pretty sure it was about six.

* * *

The day after the visit to District 3 was actually quite relaxing, although Harry and Hermione were worrying about the visit to 4. They spent a lot of time in the comfortable carriage of the train. Harry was compiling a photo album with what he had been able to salvage from Sirius and others of his parents, and Hermione spent a large part of the day helping him, and wondering where her parents were and if they thought about her or missed her.

The following day they had less downtime because they would reach District 4 just after dinner. They technically had the morning, but both of them were too worried to enjoy much, and then the afternoon was spent putting make-up on, and adjusting outfits to get them ready for the visit.

'Did you personally kill anyone from 4?' Hermione asked, feeling out of place in a pretty, happy pale blue dress.

'Yeah, Terry,' Harry said darkly as he adjusted his tie, 'and Johnson, the 15 year old boy.'

'I killed Susan,' Hermione muttered, but all conversation after that stopped as the train began to pull in to District 4. Looking out of the windows Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing, there were wide open fields because District 4 provided the capitol with all of its food, but as the fields ran out a huge fence appeared. It was entirely metal and incredibly lethal looking with a shimmering blue barrier atop it, probably a modified shield charm that would kill anyone who tried to cross it.

District 5 had something similar, but the shield charm had long since been deactivated and nobody had bothered to reactivate it. Hermione and a few others in her town were able to slip through a small hole in the fence to hunt small animals and fish by the river. Even with the food supplied from the tesserae it still wasn't enough to survive on.

To Hermione District 4 didn't look much worse than District 5, but to Harry it clearly looked savage, she felt embarrassed for the first time, about how he would react when he saw her home. All along this metal fence were towers with guards in black cloaks, it was clearly much more strict here than in District 5.

'What are the guards there for?' Harry asked weakly.

'To punish anyone who tries to escape, or who doesn't act accordingly,' Hermione replied.

'Do you have them in 5?'

'Yup,' Hermione replied, 'I suppose there aren't any in 2 because everyone's so cosy with the capitol.'

'I've never seen any in 2,' Harry admitted, 'but people do go missing a lot, when they mention something bad about the capitol.'

Hermione felt bad for being so bitter, but then she retracted it. So people went missing sometimes? Well that was nothing compared to being beaten for trying to get a little bit more food to keep your family alive. As much as he thought he did, Harry really didn't understand suffering the way Hermione did.

The houses here were pretty similar to those in 5, they were makeshift shacks. All the nice houses had been knocked down so the bricks could be used for the big houses in the nicer districts. It had left the new residents of these districts small, draughty houses where families were cramped.

'How many rooms do you think those things have?' Harry asked in shock.

'2 probably,' Hermione replied, thinking of her home, 'one for cooking, eating and living, and another for sleeping.'

'What about toilets?' Harry asked with a frown.

'There will be one outside, to share with the other 10 houses in the vicinity,' Hermione answered, 'if it's anything like 5 that is.'

'I'm sorry Hermione,' Harry said as the train began to pull into the station where there were a few more solid brick buildings, 'I didn't realise your life was so terrible.'

Hermione merely shrugged and said, 'you see how the rest of Gryffindor live? Do you understand why we think you're a pretty little rich boy now?'

'Yeah,' Harry mumbled as the doors opened, 'if I were them I'd hate me too.'

'Alright you two,' Charlie said as he led them into the city hall, 'take this seriously, and add a couple of nice comments. We'll be back on the train before you know it.'

Harry and Hermione both nodded and waited around for a bit until everything was ready in the square. Then they had to wait outside the doors again until they opened up.

When Harry and Hermione walked out onto the makeshift stage outside the city hall, the town square was full of people, but they must have only been a fraction of the people who lived there given how large District 4 was. It was on the same scale as 5 with land, but so much of 5 was desolate earth that the population was confined to a few smaller areas.

Harry and Hermione were gripping each other's hands as they stood on the stage smiling. There was a lot of applause from the crowd here, almost on a par with that in District 2. At the front were the families of the tributes who had died. For Cormac there was only a Father and an older brother, for Jason the boy who Harry had killed there was a Mother and 4 other younger children, she was glaring angrily at Harry and he didn't blame her. For Mandy there was only an elderly woman, a Grandmother probably. For Susan there were parents, a redheaded man and a dark haired woman, both of them crying. For Terry there was a little brother, an older sister and a Father, who were again glaring at Harry, he felt more like a monster here than he had in the arena. There was no one at all in this row for Luna, just an empty space where her family should have been.

Hermione's hand got sweaty in Harry's, he could tell she was upset by this too. But they both put brave faces on, determined not to let anyone see their weaknesses.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, the victors of the 15th Hunger Games, Harry Potter and Hermione Spencer!' the Mayor said as he handed Hermione flowers and whispered, 'congratulations for beating them Miss. Spencer.'

Hermione was surprised by the comment but tried not to let it show as Harry did his part of the speech, 'Thank you for the reception here, and for the support and flowers. We are honoured to be here in your District, and I would like to personally apologise for your losses. I'm sorry there were so many.'

Hermione swallowed a lump in her throat as she said, 'I want to give my thanks to the tributes of District 4. I didn't know a lot of them, but I do like to think that I knew Luna. She was my ally when I thought I stood no chance in the arena, and I won't ever forget her. Her death was more tragic than anything I could imagine.'

As Hermione took a step back something strange happened, somebody raised their wand. The man doing so was fairly old with pale skin and dark hair, as he raised his wand others followed. And in seconds the whole crowd were holding their wands in the air, for Luna.

Harry gripped Hermione's hand, pulling her towards the doors, she struggled and had to stop as she felt dizzy. As she turned one last time Harry did the same, frowning as the man who had first raised his wand was dragged up in front of the crowd by two of the cloaked guards.

Without hesitation one of them raised their wand and said in a deep, gruff tone, 'Avada Kedavra!'

Harry and Hermione both gasped as the man fell to the floor in a heap. After that things were blurred as Harry and Hermione were pushed back inside the city hall where they were met by a pretty angry looking Charlie.

'Follow me,' he hissed as he led them into a quiet reception room a little further into the city hall.

'What the hell happened out there?' Charlie asked angrily.

'I don't know,' Harry said honestly, 'Hermione gave her speech then some man raised his wand and the rest of the crowd followed. Then two guards pulled him up onto the stage and killed him, with the killing curse.'

As always Harry had flashbacked to a time of bright green lights and screams when the curse had been used on the man outside.

'Charlie, what's going on?' Hermione asked weakly.

Charlie sighed and motioned for the others to follow him, confused Harry and Hermione did until they were in the basement of the city hall, somewhere they wouldn't be overheard.

'There's a rebellion in the districts,' Charlie said in an undertone when they were alone, 'when you two were going to sacrifice yourself so they wouldn't have a victor it sparked something and the districts began to rebel. There were already problems, when you raised your wand for that girl Spencer, there was an uprising here in 4 and her Father was killed…'

'What about 5? Is everything okay in 5?' Hermione asked desperately.

'No,' Charlie replied honestly, 'it's worse than it is here. When you killed my brother out of mercy Potter, my Father rebelled and others followed. A lot of people were killed, guards and citizens of 5.'

'Is my sister okay?' Hermione asked quickly.

'She's fine,' Charlie assured Hermione, 'but what's going on here is dangerous. It could become a full out war and if that happens your family won't be safe.'

'So what do we do?' Hermione asked, frowning deeply.

'You two try and stay in love and keep this thing under control,' Charlie said with a sigh, 'that's all we can do.'

'You knew about this, Hermione, didn't you?' Harry asked with a frown, 'about this rebellion?'

'Not really,' Hermione replied with a frown, 'I just…I've had suspicions since we got back, from the way Charlie's been acting.'

Harry rolled his eyes, 'You two just understand each other, don't you? He even picked you in the arena.'

'He didn't pick either of us!' Hermione snapped, 'he got us both out alive didn't he?'

'Maybe he did, but I never got a single thing from him until you found me Hermione,' Harry said, 'he had to pick one of us, I get it, but I think we all know it wasn't me.'

As Harry stormed out of the room Hermione turned to Charlie who had a conflicting look on his face, 'did you pick me Charlie?' she asked.

'Yeah,' Charlie admitted.

'Why?' Hermione asked in confusion, 'I didn't even think you liked me.'

'I didn't to begin with,' Charlie said honestly, 'but you grew on me Spencer, and you seemed like more of a fighter than Potter. I thought if I could get one of you out alive, it would be you, especially since Potter seemed hell-bent on protecting you.'

'Oh,' Hermione said with a frown.

'Come on,' Charlie said gruffly, 'let's get out of here.'

Harry and Hermione were still stiff around each other as they left District 4 and got back on the train.

'We've got three days until we visit 5,' Charlie said to the icy pair as he left the compartment.

'I'm sorry that he chose me,' Hermione said quietly to break the icy tension in the room.

'It's hardly your fault,' Harry said with a sigh, 'I'm sorry for exploding earlier. It's not easy for me either, wondering where Sirius is and if he's okay.'

Hermione nodded, and silence fell between them once more.

**TBC **


	9. The War Begins

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 9 - The War Begins  
**

Harry and Hermione had two days of relaxation before the visit to District 5, then they had most of the 3rd day since the visit would be in the late afternoon. However neither of them found much time to relax in light of recent events. Both of them were so worried about this rebellion they seemed to have inadvertently started.

The day before they were due to visit the final district Charlie had a bad day. Harry and Hermione had learned from the time they spent on the train with him that sometimes he had good days where he was almost sober and other days he had bad days where he was completely useless. Hermione knew more about Charlie than Harry knew, having grown up with him in District 5. All of the population was centred around 3 focal points because the rest of the land was so desolate it was impossible to live there thanks to whatever Voldemort had done to it. As such the areas that had once been Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth when District 5 had been called 'Scotland' were the areas most people lived in or around. Although they bore no resemblance to those places, the buildings had been destroyed and the streets lifted up so that Voldemort could use it in other Districts and the capitol. It was pure luck which part of the district the Muggle-borns ended up in, they were placed with families and it was up to those families where they decided to live. Hermione's adopted parents had explained to her as she grew up that the district began to take more of a form, it developed areas where people were a little better off and areas where people were really poor. The areas were called 'zones' by the locals, Zone 1 being almost exactly the same as District 4, Zone 2 was a little poorer but Zone 3 was much worse and that was where Hermione was from. It also happened to be the largest zone, and likewise it was also where Charlie lived.

Hermione and Charlie lived a little way apart, Charlie could have gone to live in Zone 1 easily with the money from his winnings. It was also supposed to be part of the 'deal' that the winner got one of the nicest houses in their district, but 5 was so dreary that it didn't make a difference where he lived.

As it was he had gone back to Zone 3 and built himself a pretty makeshift two storey house at the other end of the incredibly long street Hermione lived on. she had never understood why he had picked that spot on that street. Because of the fact they had lived so close together however Hermione had an awareness of Charlie and she was sure that Charlie must have had an awareness of who she was too.

That was why Charlie and Hermione understood each other in a way Harry didn't understand, they had the common ground of growing up in the crappiest part of District 5. Hermione saw him occasionally leaving the house to try and source some firewhiskey from the black market which thrived in the district, he staggered a lot and was pretty much just the town drunk to most people who lived in the area. She heard shouting and smashing coming from inside the house a lot which likewise came to be known as normal.

So when Charlie staggered into the living area of the train completely drunk out of his mind swearing and talking nonsense Harry was quite alarmed, Hermione on the other hand, wasn't.

'Charlie, go back to bed,' She said simply, gently taking his arm and trying to lead him away.

'Am no tired,' Charlie slurred as he shook Hermione's hand off of his arm.

'You're just having a bad day,' Hermione muttered to her mentor.

'Every days a bloody bad one!' Charlie exclaimed, still slurring his words but angry too now.

Hermione sighed as she took his arm once more, 'come on Charlie,' she said quietly, 'let's just get you to bed.'

'I bet you want to get me in bed darlin',' Charlie said with a twisted smirk as Hermione led him out of the carriage. Harry followed, bemused by the fact Hermione knew how to handle Charlie and worried that he might pass out on her.

When they reached his bedroom Hermione opened the door and led him in, pushing Charlie onto his bed and looking around the messy room with a shake of her head. Harry hung back by the door until Hermione came out. It was then all the commotion began with Charlie shouting nonsense and smashing things against the wall. A woman ran forward, she was dressed in a capitol uniform and was clearly one of the attendants on the train who were there to wait on them.

Charlie usually brushed them away but this woman was clearly different. The moment she grabbed him he stopped throwing things and just sank into a pile on the floor, letting her wrap her arms around him. She had dark hair and looked about twice Charlie's age, she was old enough to be his Mother.

'Come on,' Hermione said to Harry as she led him away from the door and back into the living area, 'we should give him some privacy.'

'How did you know how to deal with him?' Harry asked, he couldn't help himself.

'He lives near me in District 5,' Hermione said simply.

'Oh, you never mentioned it before,' Harry said with a frown.

Hermione merely shrugged and said, 'there a lot of things you don't know about the place I come from, and I'd like to keep it that way if you don't mind.'

Harry nodded, he knew Hermione felt embarrassed about where she came from but he didn't think she needed to be, 'What happened to Charlie to make him that way anyway?'

'I don't know,' Hermione said honestly, 'I don't really remember the year he won.'

'Well he won the 8th games didn't he? We were only 9 at the time,' Harry said thoughtfully, 'it must have been something bad though, to make him drink like that.'

'Maybe it was just the horrors of the arena,' Hermione said with a sigh, 'it could drive anyone to firewhiskey.'

'I guess,' Harry said with a frown as Evelyn entered the room.

'Hey Evelyn, what do you know about Charlie's games?' Harry asked straight away.

Evelyn was startled by the question then frowned, 'I'm not sure that's my business to say.'

'We just wondered what drove him to be the way he is,' Harry admitted, 'you know, with the firewhiskey.'

Evelyn sighed and said 'Well I don't even pretend to know the full story, but I watched the games that year. He had an alliance with a Hufflepuff girl from his district and they worked so well together that they got to the final 2. After that you can guess what happened.'

'He had to kill her,' Hermione realised quietly.

Evelyn nodded, then changed the subject swiftly, 'Since District 5 is your home Hermione, tomorrow will be a bit more elaborate, like District 2. You both have lovely outfits but we've had instruction from the capitol that you aren't permitted to add personal comments. I've absolutely no idea why.'

Harry and Hermione shared a knowing glance, so Evelyn didn't know about the uprising which made it unlikely that Phillip knew either. They tried to listen as she detailed the plans for the visit, the dress Hermione would wear, the speech they would give, the acceptance of the flowers, and so on.

When it was eventually over dinner was served and Charlie was absent as Harry and Hermione ate with their two stylists.

* * *

Later that night Hermione snuck into the living area of the train to read a book because she couldn't sleep and she was sick of being in her bedroom. She was enjoying the peace and quiet for a good while as she lost herself in her book. When she was reading she was in another world and she didn't think about how horrible it would be tomorrow, seeing the families of Elizabeth and Justin, seeing Ron's Father, his only surviving family bar Charlie. She was also fairly sure the Hufflepuff girl Gabriella Valle had been from District 5 but Hermione didn't known her or her family personally.

'What's got you up so late?'

Hermione shrugged as Charlie walked into the dimly lit room and sat down heavily next to her on the sofa, 'it isn't so much what's got me up, it's what I'm afraid of seeing if I go to sleep.'

Charlie nodded and glanced at the cover of her book, 'I get that,' he said with a sigh, 'Hogwarts: A History, what you reading that rubbish for?'

Hermione frowned as she looked at the battered book, 'I don't know… it gives me hope that the world can be the way it was again.'

'I don't think it will be ever be the way it was again,' Charlie said gently.

'Yeah, deep down neither do I,' Hermione said with a sigh. She wondered about asking Charlie about what Evelyn had said and debated it in her head.

'Charlie, can I ask you a question about your games?' Hermione asked tentatively.

Charlie narrowed his eyes at Hermione, 'Go ahead.'

'I heard that you made an alliance with someone from 5 then you had to kill each other when you were in the bottom 2,' Hermione said carefully, 'is that true?'

Charlie gave a bitter laugh and said, 'You want to know why I like you so much but hate you at the same time Spencer?' he asked.

Hermione nodded, and Charlie said, 'you remind me of her. The girl I made an alliance with, she was feisty and strong, sarcastic and funny, like you. We made our alliance at training, went through the whole games helping each other out, a bit like you and Potter.'

'And then you both ended up in the final two,' Hermione whispered.

Charlie nodded, his eyes in some faraway place, 'this love story you two have construed, maybe it's real, maybe it's not, I get it you don't know yet. But when I was in the games it was real, and I didn't get to walk out of it with her, instead I shot her in the heart with a killing curse.'

'I'm sorry Charlie,' Hermione said quietly, 'what was her name?'

'Nymphadora,' Charlie said gruffly, 'Nymphadora Tonks. She came from a pretty well-to-do family but her Mother married a Muggle so they were deemed blood traitors, that's how they ended up in 5.'

'That's why I can't connect with Harry you know,' Hermione admitted in this strange little heart to heart, 'he doesn't understand things the way we do, he's lived quite happily in luxury all of his life. He's going to get a shock when he sees the hole we grew up in.'

'I don't mind Potter,' Charlie said honestly, 'but you're right, he's never wanted for anything and he doesn't seem to realise how much other people in the districts are suffering.'

'You get it, don't you Charlie?' Hermione asked, looking at him, 'you get why this rebellion has to happen don't you?'

'More than you know,' Charlie admitted darkly, 'people shouldn't have to sacrifice their children because of some sick bastard in the capitol.'

'I'm never having kids,' Hermione admitted with a sigh.

'I might,' Charlie said with a slight frown, 'if I didn't live here.'

'Where is here?'

'The districts,' Charlie said simply.

'Do you really think this rebellion is going to happen?' Hermione asked in a whisper.

'I'm positive,' Charlie answered in an undertone, 'but it's not going to be like the games, this is going to be a full on war. You ready for that?'

'If it means bringing down Voldemort and stopping the games, then yeah, I'm definitely ready for it,' Hermione admitted.

Charlie gave her a genuine smile and said, 'Good, well I better go, I'll leave you to it.'

'Charlie,' Hermione said as the redheaded man got to his feet, 'you can stay, if you want.'

With a slight frown Charlie sat back down, 'Thanks Spencer.'

'It's Hermione, I'm your fellow mentor now, not a tribute,' Hermione said with a slight smirk.

'Right, Hermione,' Charlie said a little awkwardly, 'can I borrow that book? I think hope sounds like a good idea right about now.'

'Sure,' Hermione said as she handed her old, battered book over to him.

* * *

'Now listen up you two,' Charlie said gruffly on the morning of the visit to District 5, 'this is going to be different from the others. The uprising in 5 was much worse than anything that happened in 4, and that's still going to be fresh in their minds. I want you two to go out there, get the flowers, give the basic speech and leave. I think that's what's going to be best for everyone involved, alright?'

Harry and Hermione both nodded, they understood the seriousness of the situation and they weren't going to mess about with that. They were due into District 5 mid-afternoon so as soon as breakfast was finished they had to start getting dressed and made up. Both Harry and Hermione were incredibly nervous, in Harry's case because of how bad Charlie had said the situation in 5 was, and in Hermione's case because it was her home and she was scared about a lot of things. She was scared about her sister, she was worried about Harry's reaction when he realised how much of a dump the place was, and she was scared about how bad things would be after the recent uprising.

As the day wore on the train crossed the border between 4 and 5 and Harry was surprised already at the change as he looked out of the window.

'Oh my god,' he muttered.

'Welcome to District 5,' Charlie said sarcastically, 'where it's permanently winter.'

Hermione shared a smirk with Charlie as Harry stared at the frozen ground that gradually began to get covered in snow that got deeper and deeper as the train ploughed on.

'Not long now,' Hermione said with a sigh, 'then we'll be home.'

'Momentarily,' Charlie reminded her.

'I'll get to see Rachel though, won't I?' Hermione asked hopefully.

'Briefly,' Charlie said as the snow got thicker yet.

'We'll be coming in soon,' Evelyn said happily as she entered the carriage, 'are you two ready?'

Harry and Hermione both nodded as they got up and stood by the doors, looking out of the windows as they began to come into the centre of District 5. Hermione could see the surprise on Harry's face, even as he tried to hide it. The train hurtled past the small weather battered houses, the mud paths lining the streets, the abandoned shacks with no roofs.

'This is your home?' Harry asked with a frown.

'Yep,' Hermione said miserably, 'this is District 5, but we're in Zone 1. I come from Zone 3.'

'Is it better there?' Harry asked.

Charlie gave a bitter laugh at this and Hermione joined in slightly.

'What's funny?' Harry asked with a deep frown.

'Nothing,' Charlie said with a smirk and Hermione shook her head in amusement, 'It's just that Zone 3 is about 10 times as bad as it is here in the centre.'

'Oh,' Harry said, swallowing and realising he really didn't know much about Hermione at all. The train slowed as a few concrete buildings rose out of the snowy mist. There were two houses reserved for the victors and the city hall, but all three buildings were falling into ruin. Those houses should have been where Charlie lived, and then where Hermione would live, but she thought like Charlie she'd go back to the hovel she grew up in rather than live in one of the houses the capitol had built.

As the train finally stopped Hermione took a deep breath. Harry slipped his hand into hers and said, 'Let's do this.'

Hermione nodded and as the doors opened they walked out onto the platform, the cold air catching them immediately as they stood in the murky air of the district. There was no one to lead them to the city hall so Charlie led them quickly through the snow into the old building which was crumbling into ruin.

When they were inside Harry and Hermione realised both of their hands were sweaty with nerves. There was a lot of shouting and cheering on the other side of the doors.

'I've got a bad feeling about this,' Charlie muttered to Harry and Hermione, 'just do what you need to do so we can get outta here.'

'Charlie,' Hermione teased, 'you almost sound worried.'

Charlie gave Hermione a rueful smile, 'don't let it get to your head Hermione.'

Frowning at this newfound friendship, or whatever it was, between Hermione and Charlie, Harry turned to the doors as they started to open out onto the stage and the crowd. Still gripping each other's hands they walked up to the large cheering crowd and smiled as they waved. At first glance things seemed normal but then there were the signs of something off in the square. The guards weren't normally armed here, usually their wands were tucked away while they talked to the citizens. However they were all gripping their wands tightly and there seemed to be twice as many as usual.

This unsettled Hermione, but she pushed it down as she got on with the ceremony, following Charlie's advice to get this over with as quickly as possible.

The Mayor, a man Hermione didn't really know since he lived in Zone 1, came forward and congratulated them, handing flowers to Hermione.

Hermione smiled, taking the lead on this one since it was her district, 'Thank you,' she began with, 'thank you to all of the people who supported me in the games. I'm so proud to be standing in front of you today as your victor, and thank you Mayor Adams, for the beautiful flowers,' Hermione was saying, all with a false smile as she scanned the crowd, 'I know I can personally apologise for what you lost in the arena, and I know Harry agrees with me.'

Harry nodded and as he gave a brief thank you and apology Hermione scanned the front row where her family should be. She saw a lot of pain and suffering before she could quite get there though. A lump formed in Hermione's throat when she realised that Gabriella not only had two parents, she also had 3 little sisters. It got worse, Elizabeth's family were there too, her parents holding onto each other and her little brother. Then there was Justin's family, or rather the lack of it, his two stoney faced parents sat in the front row. Hermione knew Justin had never really connected with his parents, but either way this was clearly still difficult for them. As Hermione reached the end of the row she smiled as she saw her sister Rachel, she was 2 years older than Hermione and had just left Hogwarts. They weren't sisters, they had just been placed with the same family in 5, but they did look a bit alike, Rachel had dark brown hair, but her brown eyes were darker than Hermione's. She beamed and waved to Hermione when they met each other's eyes and for just a second everything felt a little better. It didn't even cross Hermione's mind that none of Ron's family were present.

As Harry finished his speech something happened, and it all began so fast that Hermione had no idea what was going on. There was an explosion in the middle of the square and then there were spells flying around everywhere as guards stunned people and killing curses were shooting in front of Harry and Hermione.

'This was planned,' Harry hissed to Hermione as a group of guards made their way towards them with wands raised.

'Harry come on,' Hermione said as she gripped his hand and began to move back, 'we need to get out of here. Charlie was right, it's bad.'

'We should stay and help,' Harry said as Charlie rushed towards them, 'We've got to move,' he hissed.

'Charlie we have to help them,' Harry said angrily.

'Harry please, come on,' Hermione practically begged as the chaos continued around them.

'Hermione-' Harry began to say, but then he was hit in the chest by a stunning charm. Hermione cried out, 'Harry!'

'We _have _to move!' Charlie reiterated, but it was too late. A stunner hit Hermione right in the chest and knocked her unconscious to the ground, Charlie could only take one of them and without much thought he picked up Hermione and rushed towards the door of the justice building with her.

'Enervate,' he mumbled, and Hermione stirred, making her easier to carry.

Hermione was confused as she looked around but then alarmed when she realised that Harry was being approached by the guards.

'HARRY!' Hermione screamed as she tried to wrestle free, 'CHARLIE WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE HIM!'

'It's him or all three of us!' Charlie hissed as he held a struggling Hermione and walked into the city hall, slamming the door shut behind them.

'CHARLIE PUT ME DOWN!' Hermione screeched as he rushed through the building with her, 'LET ME GO TO HIM!'

'You go to him, you die. What use is there in that?' Charlie said as Hermione struggled against him, trying to kick, punch and bite him.

'CHARLIE PUT ME DOWN!' She screamed as they went out the back of the building. He put his hand on her mouth and ignored the fact she was attempting to bite him as he dragged her up to the platform and onto the train.

A little bit angrily he threw her onto the sofa and withdrew his bloody hand, swearing loudly as the train moved off.

'What are they going to do to him?' Hermione asked in a dangerous tone as she drew her wand.

'What you gonna do darlin'? Kill me?' Charlie asked with a slightly manic laugh.

'CHARLIE WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY GOING TO DO TO HIM?' Hermione shouted angrily, so mad or upset that her wand was shaking in her hand.

'How am I supposed to know?' Charlie asked casually.

'CHARLIE!' Hermione yelled as sparks flew out of her wand, 'you _are _going to tell me what they'll do to him!'

In seconds she shot ropes out of her wand which bound him to the sofa.

'Ooh,' Charlie said sarcastically, 'look at the little girl and her speech-free magic.'

'CHARLIE! THE PERSON I LOVE HAS BEEN TAKEN BY GUARDS OF THE CAPITOL WHO ARE GOING TO DO MERLIN KNOWS WHAT TO HIM!' Hermione said angrily, her wand at Charlie's throat, 'if you had survived the games with the girl you loved and then she was taken from you after you went through hell like that, I think _maybe _then you'd understand.'

Something in Charlie's reserve seemed to have softened, but he was still bitter and angry, 'You don't know everything Hermione, you don't know anything of this rebellion. You don't know what people have had to sacrifice, my Father died in the uprising in 5. I know what it feels like to see the person you love slip away from you and be able to do nothing about it!'

Hermione was still so angry, but she understood Charlie's reasons so she cut the ropes and sank down heavily onto the sofa, she couldn't hold it in anymore as she burst into tears. She drew her knees up and buried her head as she sobbed loudly. It was the first time she had cried properly since the arena, this wasn't just about today, it was about everything that had happened in the last couple of months.

'They won't kill him,' Charlie said gently as he placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder, 'he's too valuable to them for them to kill him.'

'Them?' Hermione asked, looking at Charlie with puffy red eyes, 'they're going to take him to the capitol?'

'It's very likely,' Charlie said, and Hermione realised that was why she liked him, he didn't mince his words, he said it like it was.

'Why is he valuable Charlie?' Hermione asked weakly.

'Because he's in love with you, and because you love him. Voldemort will keep him alive so he can use him against you at the right moment,' Charlie said in a dark tone of voice.

'Why would they use him against me?' Hermione asked, confusion swimming in her eyes.

'You're the face of the rebellion Hermione,' Charlie said as he looked at her, 'and I know your only young and it's a terrible burden, but you might be the only person who can change our world.'

'Is that why you grabbed me instead of him?' Hermione asked in a quiet voice.

'I wanted to get you both out of there, I really did,' Charlie said honestly, and his words reminded Hermione of something he'd said about the games, about how he had wanted to get them both out of the arena but in his mind could only get one out.

'I'm having a drink,' Charlie said gruffly as he got up and left the carriage. Hermione, knowing she was now alone, let herself sob properly for the first time as she pondered whether they would kill Harry. Or would they torture him? Make him into one of Voldemort's slaves with the imperius curse? One thing was for certain in Hermione's mind, whatever they did to him, however he suffered, at the end of the day it was all her fault.

* * *

Over the next few days Hermione lay in bed and cried, she refused the food that the attendants brought her and barely moved as she moped around feeling sorry for herself as she thought of all the things they were doing to Harry right now in the capitol.

Hermione wasn't sure how many days had passed when Charlie walked into the room, he didn't bother to knock but Hermione didn't care as she lay fully clothed on her bed.

'You look like crap darlin',' he drawled as he raised an eyebrow at her.

'I don't care,' Hermione said.

'Well I do,' Charlie said, 'cause we're nearly there and I can't have you going out looking like that.'

Hermione frowned, days had passed. It was only a few hours by train from District 5 to Hogwarts.

'Yeah well done,' Charlie said sarcastically, 'we're well beyond Hogwarts.'

'Where are we going then?' Hermione asked, sitting up and realising how bushy her hair was.

'District 6,' Charlie said, 'that's where we're based.'

'What about the capitol workers on the train?' Hermione asked with a frown, finally coming back to the real world, 'won't they tell the capitol whats happening?'

'We lost them all but two at 5,' Charlie said as he sat down on the edge of Hermione's bed, 'Andromeda and Ava are on our side, they've been pretending to be under the imperius curse to gather information on the capitol.'

'How long has this been in the making for?' Hermione asked in disbelief.

'It's been like this for a long time Hermione,' Charlie said softly, 'so I want you to stop taking this on your shoulders. You were merely the spark that ignited the fire, it was in the making for a long time.'

'So what happens at 6?' Hermione asked with a frown, 'I mean, I've never even heard anything about it.'

'That's because the capitol don't want you to know,' Charlie explained, '6 was for half-breeds, the capitol threw them all on an island and left them to it, thinking they would die out.'

'Didn't they ever go back to check?' Hermione asked in surprise.

'Once,' Charlie said with a nod, 'but by then the population had moved underground, so it looked like it had been abandoned. People found out about 6 and ran away to it, there are quite a few refugees from 5 and 4 who have set up a community there side by side with the half-breeds.'

'So that's where you're running the rebellion from,' Hermione realised, 'how are we getting there?'

'On a ferry,' Charlie said, 'the train will only take us this far.'

Hermione nodded, 'Okay.'

'You need to have a shower and sort yourself out, I don't care what you wear, just make yourself look presentable,' Charlie said as he got up from the bed, 'when we get there we'll be having a board meeting to discuss Harry's rescue.'

'Oh, okay,' Hermione said brightening up slightly.

'And the refugees from 5 will get there before us,' Charlie added, 'the guys from 6 rescued a lot of people with the flying carpet they stole from the capitol.'

'The rebellion have a flying carpet?' Hermione asked with shock.

Charlie smirked, 'We're not some petty rebellion, believe it or not, we're pretty good.'

Hermione smiled for the first time in days as Charlie left her room and she felt like she actually had some motivation for once as she showered and dressed at top speed. Finally feeling clean and motivated, and forgetting just for a little while about Harry's predicament she joined Charlie in the living area of the train.

'You look more like yourself than you have since the reaping,' Charlie noted with a small smile as Hermione walked out in jeans and a comfortable, baggy shirt.

'It's kind of refreshing,' Hermione admitted, feeling excited for the first time about the rebellion.

'How close are we?' Hermione asked, as the train began to slow.

'We're here,' Charlie said, looking out at the deep snow. Hermione could tell why it took so long, the train must have been going incredibly slowly through this snow.

Charlie gripped Hermione's arm as they left the train and were met by guards, but they were different from the capitol guards who patrolled the districts. These guards wore dull grey outfits and they went onto the train the moment Charlie and Hermione were off of it.

'What are they doing?' Hermione asked as Charlie led her to a dock where a fairly small ferry was awaiting them.

'They're getting Evelyn and Phillip, along with Andromeda and Ava from the train,' Charlie said.

'They won't hurt them will they?' Hermione asked anxiously.

'Nah,' Charlie said, 'they're just securing them. The stylists are a valuable asset but ultimately they're loyal to the capitol, and they're anxious Andromeda and Ava may have some sort of charm on them that relays what they do and say to the capitol.'

'Oh,' Hermione said, barely getting a chance to take in the sight of the sand and sea, something she never thought she would see in her life. Charlie had a tight grip on her arm until they were on the boat which seemed very empty but surely someone had to be driving it.

'Stay in this cabin,' Charlie said as he and Hermione entered a large cabin with two single beds, 'it's not safe on deck.'

'How long is this going to take?' Hermione asked, 'I've never been on a boat before.'

Charlie shrugged, 'with the best technology this route should take a couple of hours, but since this is all we have it's more like 5 or 6 depending on how choppy the sea is.'

Hermione sighed and sat down on one of the single beds, 'Charlie, do you think we'll get Harry out of there alive?'

'I hope we can,' Charlie said solemnly, 'but I don't want you to get your hopes up. This is a war now, it's official.'

Hermione nodded glumly and lay down on the uncomfortable bed with a heavy sigh.

**TBC :)**


	10. Meet the Rebellion

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 10 - Meet the Rebellion**

An hour passed in silence on the ferry. It wasn't necessarily awkward, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. Hermione lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling as the boat swayed forward and backward. Charlie sat drinking from a bottle of double strength firewhiskey, occasionally coughing or sighing.

'Can I have some of that?'

Charlie raised an eyebrow at Hermione, 'I think it's a bit strong for you darlin'.'

'I don't care,' Hermione said honestly, and for some reason Charlie actually handed her the bottle. She took a deep swig of it and only coughed a little as the liquid burned the back of her throat, Charlie chuckled.

As the boat continued to chug along the bottle was passed between them without conversation, the firewhiskey stopped burning after a while and started to fill Hermione with the feeling that she was floating, like her pain was slowly ebbing away.

'How many people did you kill Charlie?' Hermione asked out of the blue, 'when you were in the games?'

'Why do you wanna know that?' Charlie asked with narrowed eyes.

'I just wondered,' Hermione said as she shrugged.

'Three,' Charlie said after a long pause, 'I killed three people.'

'I killed three people too,' Hermione whispered, moving over to sit next to Charlie on his single bed, she leant with her head against the wall and glanced sideways at the perplexed redhead.

'I know you did,' Charlie said simply, 'I watched, remember?'

Hermione rolled her eyes, 'How did you do it? Were you brutal?'

Charlie shrugged and again was silent for a moment, 'Defensive more than brutal. You get two types of people in the arena, the ones that kill to stop themselves getting killed and the ones who kill for fun.'

Hermione nodded glumly, 'I guess killing Theodore was defensive.'

'You didn't really kill him Hermione,' Charlie said as his hand sat on top of hers, 'you dropped the doxy nest that did.'

'I'm still the reason he died,' Hermione said, taking the bottle from Charlie.

'You think that's bad? My first kill in the arena was this 13 year old kid. He ran at me halfway through casting the killing curse, but I got him first,' Charlie said.

'So you defended yourself,' Hermione said, 'like I did.'

'Yeah, I defended myself by conjuring 6 daggers and sending them into his chest,' Charlie said sarcastically and bitterly as he took the bottle back from Hermione.

'I killed Susan with the killing curse, I'd never used it before then,' Hermione said with a frown, 'at school they said you really had to mean it to use it.'

'You do,' Charlie said gruffly, 'which is why I only used it twice in the arena.'

'On who?'

'Some girl from Slytherin towards the end of the games,' Charlie admitted, 'she tried to kill Dora, so I…well I guess I got pretty mad.'

'Susan had just killed Luna,' Hermione said quietly.

To this Charlie only nodded and swigged from the bottle, his eyes glazing over, 'and then I used it on Dora at the end…when it was just the two of us.'

'How did you do it?' Hermione asked in a whisper.

'I had to get back,' Charlie said gruffly, 'I loved her, but she was an only child…I had my parents and all my younger siblings. All I could think of was there gaunt faces as they starved.'

'I'm sorry,' Hermione whispered.

'We'll avenge them soon,' Charlie said, his eyes flashing dangerously, 'they killed them all on purpose to wipe out one of the families who rebelled last time.'

'Is that why Harry's parents are dead?' Hermione asked in a strangled tone of voice.

Charlie just nodded, and Hermione asked the question that had often plagued her late at night, 'if they were wiping your family out, why leave you alive Charlie? Why let you win?'

'Because they want to give people hope,' Charlie said bitterly, 'I was the hope that Weasley's could do it, those sick bastards wanted one of us to live and they picked me.'

There was silence for a moment and then Charlie offered the bottle to Hermione who accepted it gratefully, 'Justin? That was hardly self-defence,' she said, changing the subject.

'Compassion,' Charlie said simply with a slight smile in Hermione's direction, 'that's where we differ.'

'How come?' Hermione asked with a frown.

'One of the people from my district was dying, but I left them. You ended your friends suffering,' Charlie said, looking at Hermione with a strange look in his eyes, 'I admire you for that.'

'Thanks, I guess,' Hermione said with a sigh.

Charlie merely shrugged and for a long while silence fell between them once more, Hermione rested her head on Charlie's shoulder and said, 'you leave the arena so changed.'

'Yeah, you do,' Charlie confirmed, stiffening up a little at the human touch.

'Does anything stop the pain?' Hermione asked weakly.

'The stuff you're drinking,' Charlie said sarcastically.

'It doesn't stop anything though Charlie,' Hermione said desperately as she sat up properly to look at him, 'it just makes you feel numb.'

'Feeling numb is better than feeling pain at the end of the day,' Charlie said.

'Is it?' Hermione asked with a frown, 'is feeling pain not better than feeling nothing at all?'

Charlie shrugged and looked down at the ground.

'I just want to feel something that isn't pain Charlie,' Hermione admitted, 'and I haven't, not really, since the arena.'

'You will one day,' Charlie assured Hermione as he caught her eye.

'There must be a way, to feel something!' Hermione said in a frustrated whisper.

'There is,' Charlie said, his tone changing slightly as he swallowed.

Hermione somehow knew what he meant, she didn't know how, or why, but she ended up moving forward to close the small gap between them to capture his lips in what was inevitably a searing, passionate kiss. Nothing like the kisses she had shared with Harry. Hermione should have felt guilty as she kissed Charlie, but she didn't, she felt exhilarated for the first time since she had won the hunger games.

Charlie broke away from the kiss with a frown and said, 'I'm way too old for you.'

Hermione opened her mouth to speak as Charlie got to his feet, but she found no words.

'And regardless of the state of your mind right now, I know you're in love with Potter,' Charlie added, 'I'm going to check our progress, I'll see you later.'

As Charlie left, slamming the door loudly, Hermione allowed herself to cry once more. She felt guilty now in the aftermath as she thought of Harry who she was meant to love, being tortured by Voldemort. But how was she supposed to love someone based on the fact that people deemed that person as who she was 'supposed' to be in love with? Surely her heart had to make that decision itself? She had of course had a crush on Harry when they were at Hogwarts, which seemed like a life-time ago now and she somehow doubted she'd be going back to finish her 6th year with this rebellion going on. What was a crush though? What did it mean in the arena? In this new world where there were more important things like rebellions and a war? A crush was nothing, love was nothing, it all had to be relegated. Yet Hermione still had conflicted feelings about Harry, and now about Charlie too.

Frustrated and fed up Hermione screamed into her pillow and lay down on her bed, sighing as she stared once more at the blank ceiling.

* * *

When she woke up Charlie was sitting on the opposite bed again, she felt sick even though the boat didn't seem to be moving. He smirked at her and said, 'Well, someone can't hold their liquor.'

'I think I'm gonna throw up,' Hermione said weakly, her head was pounding and she felt rotten.

'Bathrooms across the hall,' Charlie said simply, and upon hearing this news Hermione rushed to the bathroom, feeling ashamed and incredibly ill. She had kissed Charlie, her _mentor _and she was with Harry, she was in love with Harry. But was he even alive? Was Charlie right or had they just killed him and they didn't want to tell her that?'

As she sat on the cold floor of the white tiled bathroom Hermione let her head drop against the wall behind her, sighing as she realised how entirely messed up her life was.

_Knock, Knock._

'You alright?' Charlie's gruff voice asked.

'I'm fine, leave me alone Charlie!' Hermione remarked angrily.

'If that's what you want, fine,' Charlie said, his voice fading, 'but I have a preciously small amount of sober up potion left…if you're interested.'

In seconds Hermione had unlocked the door and yanked it open, 'Wait! You do?'

Charlie threw her the vial which she caught deftly.

'Take advice from someone who knows darlin', don't drink firewhiskey,' Charlie drawled as Hermione downed the bottle, feeling it settle in her stomach as her sickness began to ebb away.

'Clean yourself up and get dressed, we're here and everybody is waiting for us,' Charlie said, walking away along the corridor, presumably to talk to the captain of the boat. Hermione sighed, so it looked like they would be taking the 'let's pretend it never happened' approach to the kiss the night before. It was better than the awkward 'let's talk about it' approach she reasoned as she did as Charlie said, both nervous and excited about meeting 'everybody'.

She cleaned her face and washed then walked across to the room she and Charlie was sharing which was thankfully empty. She changed into the black robes and cloak that were waiting for her on the bed then put on her boots and tied the laces before pulling herself up to her full height. Hermione felt much better already from the potion, but she was still a little queasy, chances were that the queasiness was nerves.

'You ready?' Charlie asked through the door.

'Yes' Hermione called, opening the door and walking out.

'Good,' he said gruffly, 'I'm going to put an disillusionment charm on you and you're going to have to hold onto me so I can lead you there.'

'Where are we going?' Hermione asked, following Charlie down the corridor to where they had come onto the boat.

'You'll see when we get there,' Charlie said, tapping his wand on her head and then doing the same to himself. In seconds they were both camouflaged against the walls of the ferry, Hermione could only see Charlie from the whites of his eyes, he reached for her, grabbing her hand.

'When we get out there you don't let go of my hand, you don't say a word, not until I take the spell off you. Got it?'

Hermione nodded, Charlie sounded deadly serious and for that reason she would follow his instructions exactly. The door of the ferry opened and Charlie walked briskly down the stairs, Hermione kept his pace as they walked up the rotting docks carefully and stepped out of what was obviously wards around the docks because a wave of magic went through Hermione.

She had to fight to control a gasp at what she saw next. The landscape was completely barren, there were no buildings, just piles of rubble, there was barely any grass, hardly any trees or greenery. Just nothing, she assumed this had once been a town before Voldemort had changed the world that they lived in so drastically. She knew they were on an island but that was pretty much all she knew as Charlie gripped her hand tightly and pulled her across the land, passing some of the piles of rubble and occasionally seeing bits of pavement stones. It didn't take long to reach their destination, although at first glance Hermione had no idea what that destination was.

She watched silently as Charlie tapped a rhythm on one pile of rubble and her mouth dropped open in surprise when the ground opened up, revealing a hole going straight downwards.

Charlie pushed Hermione towards it, she didn't know what to do, jump? She couldn't ask Charlie. He gave her another gentle prod so she sat down on the ground and pushed herself into the hole, breathing a sigh of relief when she realised it wasn't going straight down, it was more like a vertical slide that really gave you friction burn on your bottom. When Hermione slid out at the bottom she looked around, but she couldn't gather much about where they were. This looked like an underground complex, it had several chambers, and the whole thing seemed to be made of concrete and enforced steel. After a few seconds Charlie emerged behind her, standing up and brushing himself down, he tapped Hermione's head and disillusioned her and then did the same to himself.

'Well done,' Charlie said with a nod, 'for staying quiet.'

'Where are we?' Hermione asked.

'District 6,' Charlie answered, looking around for someone.

'Yes, but where is district 6?' Hermione asked.

'This place was called Orkney by the Muggles who used to live here,' Charlie answered impatiently, 'district 6 is built underneath the town they called Kirkwall.'

'Why _is _it underground?' Hermione asked.

'Why do you ask so many questions?'

'Charlie! You've brought me here and you've been cryptic about everything! Why are we in a secret underground complex?' Hermione snapped.

'Because the capitol thinks no one's here, they think they've died out,' Charlie answered snappishly, 'so it's the perfect place to run the rebellion from, since everyone is expecting it to be planned in 5.'

'Oh,' Hermione said, and before they could talk, or argue, anymore someone emerged into the room.

'Charlie! Good ter' see yeh.'

'Oh my!' Hermione mumbled as a very large man in a moleskin jacket emerged into the section of the tunnel they were in.

'Hermione, this is my good friend Rubeus Hagrid,' Charlie said as he smiled at the huge man, 'you know who she is.'

'Everybody knows who she is thanks ter' yeh,' Hagrid said in a very thick accent that was hard to understand. He walked forward and shook Hermione's hand with one of his dustpan sized ones, 'nice ter finally meet yeh Hermione.'

'You too, Hagrid,' Hermione said, a little thrown by this man.

'He's waitin' fer yeh in command,' Hagrid said, turning around.

'Come on,' Charlie muttered to Hermione. She walked alongside him through corridors of concrete that all looked the same. There wasn't anyone milling about in the corridors and all the guards were wearing the same dull grey uniforms as the ones who had seen them off the train and onto the boat had been.

Hermione didn't say anything as they reached a door. Hagrid lifted up a wand that was taped together in the middle and swiped it over the frame. It seemed to recognise him and opened, he led the way in, Charlie following with ease and Hermione walking in at the back with some trepidation.

Hermione scanned the room, there was a large metal table in the centre of the room and as she did a quick headcount she gathered that there were 11 people here, and then counting Charlie and Hagrid that made 13. Was she supposed to be the 14th? Hermione wondered with a worrying jolt. She looked around the table, recognising only two people.

His hair was messier than she was used to seeing it, curly and unruly, his eyes boring into her, but there was no mistaking Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather and the man who had raised him. Sitting next to him, with shockingly bright red hair and blue eyes that felt like they looked into your soul, was his wife Amelia Black (nee Bones). Hermione swallowed nervously.

'Miss. Spencer,' the man at the head of the table said with a smile, 'good to see you finally made it here.'

He was thin and gaunt, with scars running the length of his face and mousy brown hair that looked like it needed to be cut.

'My name is General Remus Lupin,' he said, 'I'm the leader of the rebellion.'

'Oh,' Hermione said, because she simply couldn't form any other words.

'I'm sure you recognise my second in command Soldier Sirius Black,' he added, and Sirius gave Hermione a slight nod. He was angry at her for Harry's disappearance no doubt, he blamed her, just like she blamed herself, 'and his wife, Soldier Amelia Bones.'

Her steely gaze didn't waver as Hermione gave the woman a polite nod.

'Soldier Kingsley Shacklebolt,' a dark skinned bald man gave Hermione a kind smile as he bowed his head.

'Soldier Frank Longbottom, and his wife Soldier Alice Longbottom,' Remus said and Hermione's eyes wavered slightly on the couple. She had never seen them, but she had heard Harry talk about them. He and Neville had been close friends having grown up together in district 2, but Neville had died in the games the year before.

Frank had mousy brown short hair, and Alice had unruly curly black hair and shockingly blue eyes, they both looked pale and gaunt, and haunted.

'Soldier Alastor Moody,' Hermione frowned as the man gave her a nod. He had long blonde-ginger hair and his face was covered in scars, with a chunk missing from his nose. He had a false eye that was darting about very quickly, it made Hermione feel sick so she averted her gaze.

'Soldier Aberforth Dumbledore,' an old man with a long beard and tired blue eyes gave a resigned nod.

'Soldier Filius Flitwick,' a very short man with glasses and brown hair gave Hermione a weak smile.

'Soldier Sanguini,' a man who had to be a vampire, with white skin, jet black hair and brown eyes with a tinge of red also gave a polite nod.

'Soldier Mundungus Fletcher,' a bald man who looked like a drunk nodded absentmindedly.

'And of course you've met Soldier Rubeus Hagrid, and you're well acquainted with Soldier Charlie Weasley,' Remus finished.

Hermione could only nod, Remus smiled and said, 'sit down, please.'

There were three seats left and they all sat down by the table, Hermione was completely overwhelmed, she had no idea what the hell was happening.

'I realise this is a lot for you to take in Hermione,' Remus said from the top of the table, 'but we're very glad to have you here. We need you.'

He waved his wand and a map of the country appeared in the air behind him, 'as you can see Districts 5, 4 and 3 are all rebelling now, and District 3 has broken free of capitol country.'

'Really?' Hermione asked in disbelief.

'4 is nearly there, but the capitol are bombing them from the sky which is depleting their manpower,' Remus added, 'and 5 are getting there too.'

'What about 2 and 1?' Hermione asked, surveying the map.

'2 will be easier to topple than 1, but both are going to be difficult. They live in the capitols pocket, a lot of people from 1 are followers of Voldemort from the first war,' Remus said darkly.

'So this really is a war now,' Hermione realised.

'Yes, and any war needs a good figurehead. You were the spark, you can do _so _much for the rebellion, your presence here could turn the tides in our favour,' Remus said eagerly.

'I'll do whatever you want,' Hermione said simply, 'just get Harry out of there.'

Remus's eyes darkened and he shared a glance with Sirius, 'that may be a problem.'

'What?!'

'You have to understand, we are still training our soldiers and gathering manpower. We don't have the resources to save Harry now, it will take a month or two before we're ready to launch a rescue mission,' Remus said calmly.

'So you're just going to leave him there while they torture him and do Merlin knows what to him?' Hermione asked angrily, she pushed herself to her feet, Charlie tried to stop her, but she pushed him off, 'get off me Charlie!'

'Hermione, listen to me, we _will _get Harry out of there,' Sirius said gently, 'we just can't do it right now.'

'He's your Godson! You should be on my side here!'

'There are no sides here,' Remus said, still not losing his temper, 'we all want the same thing, which is for the capitol to go down.'

'So your all for the greater good? Like Dumbledore was! That did him a world of good right enough!' Hermione screamed, 'one persons life doesn't matter as long as everyone else lives?'

Remus pushed himself to his feet, 'We will save Harry! But I am responsible for _everyone _in this base and if we try and do it now we will lose a lot of good men just to save one teenage boy!'

'Hes not just any teenage boy!' Hermione screamed at Remus and then her wand vibrated in her hand, burning through to her skin. She didn't know what was happening as an explosion wracked the room and darkness overcame her.

* * *

When Hermione woke up she was in a very white room that reminded her of the hospital wing at Hogwarts. She felt groggy as she looked around the almost empty room, she smiled at the person sitting next to her bed.

'Rachel,' she mumbled.

'Hey sis,' Rachel said, her hand slipping into Hermione's which was bandaged, 'how you feeling?'

'Tired, and sore,' Hermione said honestly as she propped herself up a little, 'what happened?'

'You lost control,' a new voice said, and Hermione frowned at Charlie as he walked over.

'What do you mean?'

'You lost control of your magic,' Charlie said simply, 'because of the mental stress of everything that's going on. It's been disabled.'

'Forever?'

'Until you get better,' Charlie said, sitting down on the edge of her bed, 'you nearly destroyed the whole room, it was lucky that Remus got his shield charm up as fast as he did.'

Hermione sighed and leant back against the pillows, 'Who else got rescued from 5?' she asked Rachel.

'Not many of us,' Rachel admitted.

'Mum and Dad?' Hermione asked.

Rachel simply shook her head.

'As soon as you've recovered we need you,' Charlie said to Hermione, 'the faster you help us, the sooner we can get Harry back, in theory.'

'What do you need me to do?' Hermione asked with a frown, 'if I can't use my magic what _can _I do?'

'Once you've calmed down we'll test you and see if you can control your magic, if you can we'll give you back your magic for short periods of time. We want to take you out to the rebelling districts and watch you interacting with the injured, then we'll project the images as memories to the rest of the districts and to the capitol.'

'To fuel the rebellion,' Hermione realised, 'that's why you want me as the figurehead, because I started it all.'

'You're catching on darlin',' Charlie said, patting Hermione on the leg, 'I'll come by later.'

He got up and left, leaving Hermione a little more aware of what was going on, but still very much confused and fed up.

'You can do it Hermione,' Rachel said as she pushed her sisters hair from her face, 'you're the bravest person I know.'

'Being brave and being the figurehead of a war are very different things Rach,' Hermione said weakly.

Rachel gave her sister a smile, 'I know, but I still know you can do it. Like Charlie says, it's all going to help get Harry back, right?'

'Right,' Hermione said.

'Do you really love him? Was everything I saw in the games real?' Rachel asked curiously.

'Yeah, I do love him,' Hermione said with a frown, 'but it's more complicated than that.'

'Because of Charlie,' Rachel realised, smiling at Hermione's surprise, 'I know my little sister surprisingly well.'

Hermione nodded, 'Yes, because of him, but also because nothing is ever straight in my head since the games. It's all fuzzy and jumbled up…sometimes I get clarity, but other times nothing seems right.'

'It's probably just the aftermath, I'm sure you'll get better when you're busy doing something,' Rachel said, adding, 'I'm working here now, helping run the hospital wing.'

Hermione smiled and said, 'Oh, that's great Rachel.'

* * *

Rachel was right, it _did _get better when Hermione was getting ready to go out and do all of the promotional work the rebels wanted from her. She was keeping herself busy and she was spending a lot of time with Charlie, something she felt incredibly guilty about because she was enjoying it.

She was forced to stay in the hospital wing for 2 days, and then Charlie took her deeper underground to a room that even she couldn't blow up. He stuck with her as they tested her magic, and they came to the conclusion it was fine but she needed a little work on concentrating again, and Charlie was the person who was assigned to fix that.

'Alright,' he was saying, acting much more decent lately since there was no alcohol in this underground hell, he was more sober than Hermione had ever seen him. He walked around behind her, and held her wand hand steady.

'Close your eyes.'

Hermione did as he asked.

'Think about the spell you want to use, and nothing else. Imagine the magic flowing from your core into your wand.'

Hermione did so, feeling her wand vibrate in her hand.

'Now open your eyes and cast,' Charlie whispered into her ear.

Hermione did so, and she was amazed when the simple stunning spell hit the dummy she was aiming for square in the chest.

'I did it!' she said, spinning around to Charlie with a grin and hugging him, 'thanks Charlie!'

Charlie shrugged a little sheepishly, 'You're safe to go out into the districts, which means Evelyn and Phillip will want to get you ready.'

'Where are we going?' Hermione asked with a frown.

'District 4, a hospital there for the injured from the bombings,' Charlie said, 'we just want you to interact with the injured, and give them some hope.'

'Okay,' Hermione said, thinking of how much she hated injured people, and especially how much she hated blood, it made her stomach turn, 'and then it's going to be shown in the districts? To give them hope?'

'Exactly,' Charlie said, leading her out of the room.

**TBC :)  
**


	11. Stability is a Fragile Thing

**A Game of Hunger**

**Chapter 11 - Stability is a Fragile Thing**

Hermione had forgotten quite how much she hated the way her stylists dressed her when Charlie knocked on her door one morning two weeks after she had arrived in District 6. They had put her in some fancy black fire-resistant robes bearing fiery phoenix, the symbol of the rebellion. She felt ridiculous with her dark hair curled and falling perfectly into place, she looked like an actress not someone going into a war zone.

'Come in Charlie,' Hermione called.

He walked in, smirking when we saw her, 'look at our little Phoenix.'

'Shut up,' she snapped, 'I look stupid.'

'You look gorgeous,' Charlie corrected.

'And what good is that going into a war zone?' she asked as she walked along the corridor with him to command, nothing more had happened between them since the kiss on the boat and they were becoming fast friends, both appreciating the others blunt, sarcastic view on the world.

'The figurehead of the rebellion has got to look good,' Charlie said.

'Are you coming too today?' Hermione asked anxiously, she was stable when Charlie was with her, but when he left she slipped and found it hard to focus.

'Course, do you really think I'm letting you go out on your own?' Charlie asked sarcastically, it sounded mean but Hermione knew it was his way of saying that he was protecting her.

Their conversation was cut loose as they walked into command and took their seats.

Remus addressed them all, 'Okay Hermione, today you will be going to a field hospital in District 4. You'll go via flying carpet and spread hope, talk to the injured, give them something to root for. There shouldn't be any danger, but just in case we're sending Soldiers Weasley, Black and Shacklebolt with you.'

Hermione only nodded in response.

'Don't do anything rash,' Remus added, nodding his head towards the door to signal that the meeting was over.

Hermione got to her feet with a sigh, walking out of the door with Charlie as they followed Sirius and Kingsley. Charlie was one of the lower people in command because of his recent alcohol problems. Sirius and Kingsley were much higher up so they naturally led the way to the bay where they kept the three flying carpets they had managed to steal from the capitol. Hermione had never seen a more fancy flying carpet either, it was essentially a ship that ran on magic with the 'carpet' as both the floor and the engine. However, it had walls and a roof, with windows, and was a pale grey, so as not to draw attention to it in the sky. Nobody spoke, not even when they got onto the flying carpet and sat down in the little area by the door. It rendered itself invisible and took off, the ground opening up for it to fly out.

Hermione looked out of the window at the blue sky and the clouds, wondering how bad things would be when they got to District 4. She remembered that things had looked pretty bad when she had been there recently for the victory tour, when Harry had still been with her, she couldn't help but think.

The flying carpet clearly moved faster than trains because the trip to District 4 took around an hour, and the moment it landed the action began. They all used disillusionment charms as they disembarked from the flying carpet which then flew back up into the sky. Hermione looked around at a block of metal warehouses, wondering which one of them was the hospital. There were a lot of signs the place had been set on fire, ash on the ground, craters from bombs, it was quite a terrifying place to be.

Charlie gripped her arm and pulled her along into a dark grey warehouse. Hermione felt sick straight away as the smell of death and decay hit her nostrils. She had to choke down the urge to throw up, and Charlie did all he could do, he placed a comforting arm around her shoulder.

'Andromeda!'

Andromeda smiled as she walked over to Charlie, kissing him on the cheek, 'Charlie, lovely to see you. I notice you brought the girl.'

Charlie nodded and said, 'this is Hermione Spencer, I don't think you've officially met. Hermione, this is Andromeda Tonks. She's running the hospital here, we sent her here after we got her safely to 6.'

'Why are they so sick?' Hermione asked with a frown, 'can't magic heal them?'

'It could if we knew the right spells,' Andromeda said with a sigh, 'but there's too many injured and not enough healers.'

'So they just have to lie there and die?' Hermione asked weakly.

'I'm afraid so,' Andromeda admitted, and this only made Hermione feel more sick. The injuries were disgusting, people with bloody bandages covering their faces, people with amputated arms and legs. Some were adults, others were just children.

'You can do it,' Charlie mumbled in Hermione's ear, 'just let them see you at the very least. Give them hope.'

Hermione nodded and walked further into the warehouse, the stench was horrendous and there were flies everywhere. She walked through the swarm and people began to shout her name and chant it, and she didn't know why she had this effect but then it hit her. She had defied the capitol, she was the only one who had dared to do that, she was the spark that had given them hope they could have a life free of its regime. She was the hope they all so desperately wanted to cling to.

As she made her way up the rows, touching people's hands and murmuring words of comfort to them the smell lessened and her eyes got teary as she realised how much of an impact she was having on these poor dying people. She didn't know how much time she had spent when she walked back to Charlie and fought every urge telling her to collapse in his arms. He gave her an encouraging smile so Hermione turned back to the crowd of injured and waved goodbye before leaving the warehouse and gasping in the fresh clean air outside.

'You were fantastic,' Charlie murmured in her ear as he handed her a bottle of water which she gulped from eagerly.

'I didn't do very much,' Hermione said with a sigh, 'even if my magic wasn't messed up I couldn't have saved them.'

'But you gave them hope, isn't that something?' Sirius asked.

Hermione frowned, if anyone knew anything about hope then it had to be him. The only thing that was getting him through was hope, hope that Harry would be okay, that he would see him again.

Hermione merely nodded, because she didn't know any words that could answer that question, and because she found it hard to speak to Sirius since she felt responsible for what had happened to Harry.

She was still catching her breath when a glittering silver dog bounded towards them, the words of the captain of the flying carpet told them to get back to the place they landed right away. Everyone panicked and Hermione didn't know why as Charlie grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the place they had come in.

'Charlie what's going on?' She asked.

'Bombers,' Charlie answered breathlessly, but it was too late it had already started. Magically infused bombs were falling from capitol flying carpets in the sky. They were bombing the alley which meant everyone was vulnerable, Charlie dragged Hermione into a side alley and forced himself on top of her to protect her as the first bombs dropped only a few feet away from them. There was a pause in the bombs and Charlie got up, glancing around the corner and aiming his wand at one of the carpets, they had lost Sirius and Kingsley who were trying to take the carpets down from somewhere near the entrance to the makeshift hospital.

Hermione grabbed her wand, counting in her head in time with Charlie. Wordlessly she knew when to strike.

'CONFRINGO!'

Their combined blasting charms hit one of the three carpets and it spiralled downwards somewhere in the distance.

Charlie shot Hermione a grin, 'Again?' he said, pulling her up onto the roof of one of the more sturdy warehouses.

'Remus said we shouldn't do anything reckless!' Hermione shouted as they took position.

'Sometimes you have to act reckless darlin',' Charlie said, and together they took down the 2nd carpet just as it dropped a bomb. Charlie threw himself over Hermione once more and for a second she saw nothing but his blue eyes staring at her, his face flushed from the effort, it made Hermione go into a daze.

'Are you okay?' Charlie asked softly.

Hermione nodded, 'they aren't here for me.'

Charlie shook his head, 'no, they're targeting something else.'

Hermione's eyes widened and she said, 'Charlie! The hospital, they're-'

Another bomb dropped from the final flying carpet and Charlie tried to block her view, but he didn't manage to obscure her view of the bomb hitting the hospital, in seconds it went up in flames.

Hermione watched in silent horror as it burned, barely noticing the 3rd hovercraft being shot from the sky by Sirius or Kingsley.

'We've got to go,' Charlie said gruffly, scaling down the warehouse and helping Hermione do the same. As they rushed to the place they had landed they met up with Sirius and Kingsley, they both had minor burns and were out of breath but other than that seemed fine.

'It's over,' Sirius said breathlessly, 'look Hermione, if you're angry enough about what they just did to those people now would be a good time to be vocal about it.'

'What do you mean?'

'Look right at Charlie and send a message to the rebels, Voldemort targeted this hospital as a message to the rebellion. Send an alternate one back,' Sirius said, adding, 'we'll keep watch.'

'Okay,' Hermione said, looking into Charlie's blue eyes and then back to the hospital behind her. If the fire hadn't burned the people inside to death, the smoke will have done by now. No one was helping, nobody was running into help because they all knew that they wouldn't find any survivors.

'I want the rebels in every district to know that Voldemort has just bombed a hospital full of sick and dying men, women and children,' Hermione began darkly, 'and there is no chance of any survivors. I want to tell the rebels that we _have _to keep fighting because the capitol will never treat us fairly, they will never treat us equally unless we win this war! I want to say to the capitol, you can bomb us, and you can burn us but look at those flying carpets!' Hermione pointed to the burning carpets they had shot down, 'fire is catching, and if we burn, you burn with us!'

Hermione stopped then, catching her breath.

'That was perfect,' Charlie said as he patted her on the back, 'now come on,' he said, ushering Sirius and Kingsley over. Not wasting any more time they all rushed back into the hover craft and breathed a sigh of relief at the safety of it.

As it took off Hermione sat down next to Charlie, drawing her legs up to her chest and resting her head on his shoulder.

'You were great out there today,' Charlie said quietly, kissing her on the top of the head.

Sirius shot the other man a glare, but Hermione didn't really notice it and she didn't pay much attention to it either as she remembered the burning hospital and the desperate sick people inside of it who had been killed for no reason other than to show everyone else a lesson.

Blackness began to overcome Hermione with the intensity of all that had happened that morning, and she fell asleep against Charlie.

* * *

The first thing Hermione was aware of when she woke up was that her head hurt and that the lights were very bright. She opened her eyes weakly and blinked a few times to get rid of the blurriness. She sighed as she realised that she was in the hospital wing once again.

'Hey sis.'

Hermione managed a weak smile at her sister, 'hey Rachel.'

'Are you going to make a habit out of waking up in here?' Rachel asked in amusement.

'We didn't know about the raid, it was supposed to just be me visiting the hospital' Hermione said in her defence.

'I wasn't blaming you, I just worry about you,' Rachel said honestly, 'how are you feeling?'

Hermione shrugged, 'sore, dizzy…drained.'

'You've had your magic disabled again, that's probably why you feel drained,' Rachel said, looking at something on Hermione's wrist.

Hermione herself looked down and saw a plastic band on her arm which said 'magic disabled – mentally unstable'.

'Mentally unstable?'

Rachel shrugged and looked down a little guiltily, 'It's because you can't control your magic, and because of the whole…Harry…thing.'

'I get it Rach,' Hermione said with a sigh.

Rachel nodded, 'I need to get back to work, I'll check on you later.'

Hermione loved her sister but she was glad of the peace and quiet she got when she left. She shut her eyes, not sleepy, but trying to drone out the memories of the fire and the bombs, and of the injured.

'How's our little phoenix?'

'What did you just call me?' Hermione asked, her eyes snapping open as Charlie sat down on the edge of her bed.

'That's what they're calling you, the phoenix, since that's the symbol of the rebellion and you're the figurehead,' Charlie explained, 'how you feeling?'

Hermione merely shrugged, 'I've felt better.'

'You've looked worse,' Charlie countered and it made Hermione laugh.

'Look,' she said, holding up her wrist, 'apparently I'm mentally unstable now.'

'I was always saying you were mental,' Charlie remarked and Hermione laughed again, she really properly laughed and she couldn't remember the last time she had done that.

'How long have I been out?' Hermione asked, feeling very out of touch.

'A couple of days,' Charlie answered, 'they want to talk to us in command, if you're feeling up to it.'

Hermione nodded, 'sure,' she said, 'but you might need to levitate me there.'

'Don't be stupid, I'll carry you,' Charlie said offhandedly, 'you wanna go now?'

Hermione nodded and felt her cheeks flush as Charlie scooped her out of her hospital bed and carried her up a flight of stairs and along a short corridor to command. When they walked in everyone was waiting as Charlie helped Hermione into her chair. She caught her first glimpse of herself, she looked pale and thin, and ill.

'I've been informed you did well in District 4,' Remus said, waving his wand happily and causing a screen of some sort to appear behind him.

Sirius actually managed to give Hermione a slight smile, and Kingsley also looked on proudly.

'Do you want to see what we put together to send out to the rebels?' Remus asked.

Hermione nodded, and an image was projected behind him, a moving image. It was a montage of her and Charlie shooting down the carpets and Hermione walking through the sick and injured in the hospital. The words she had spoken to Charlie were playing over these clips and she blushed as she watched herself finish off with 'if we burn you will burn with us'. It was embarrassing, watching herself this way.

When it was over everyone in the room clapped and murmured excitedly, Hermione just kept her gaze down on the table. As they all talked amongst themselves she realised that it had already been played to the districts, but they couldn't tap into the capitol to show it there. There was discussion of other propaganda they could get out of the trip to 4 and Hermione zoned out until she was told she could go.

Charlie and she didn't talk as they made their way back to the hospital wing, and when he settled her back in bed he sat down next to her and stayed for a while. They didn't do much, just absentmindedly played wizards chess, barely talking but enjoying each other's company.

That was when it happened, there were screens dotted around the district, they showed these magically projected images. They had them back in 5 too, the one in the hospital wing fizzled into life. Showing a stage with two people on it, Hermione's breath caught in her throat when she realised that one of those people was none other than Harry.

'You shouldn't watch this,' Charlie muttered but Hermione shushed him as her eyes were drawn to Harry.

He looked pale and gaunt, like he hadn't been eating properly, his eyes were dead and glazed over. He looked like he had been beaten but that the marks and bruises had been hidden and scrubbed away, there was no way to hide the large black marks under his eyes however.

Rita Skeeter was the other person there, and she said that it was nice to see Harry again and that it was 'good to have him on their side'. Then she pulled out the big guns and said, 'What do you think about the rumours that Hermione is helping put together propaganda for the rebels?'

'They're using her,' Harry said dryly, 'it's obvious.'

He seemed to really believe this and Hermione's heart broke, tears streamed down her cheeks.

'Do you want to say anything to her Harry?' Rita asked gently.

Harry nodded, staring into the camera with a gaze that did not belong to him, 'Hermione, don't let them control you. They're trying to turn you into a weapon, think. Do you really trust the people around you? Do you really know whats going on? If you don't…find out.'

That was it, the screen went black again and Charlie turned to Hermione, 'that wasn't him.'

'Of course it was him!' Hermione exclaimed angrily, 'he was right there, you saw him with your own eyes!'

'Maybe it was him Hermione, but I can recognise the effects of the imperius curse instantly, and trust me he was under it,' Charlie said in an undertone.

'Wh…what?'

'I told you, they're keeping him alive to use him against you,' Charlie whispered.

'Why?' Hermione asked in a whisper.

'Because they think you love him, whether that's true or not they think you love him, that you would do anything to get him back,' Charlie said darkly.

'And I would but you and bloody Remus won't allow it!' Hermione spat angrily.

'Give us a week, we're nearly there,' Charlie said, getting to his feet and adding angrily, 'and stop yelling at everyone who cares about you. Soon there will be nobody left!'

Hermione groaned and let her head fall back against the pillows as she contemplated what Charlie had said, about Harry, and about himself caring about her. She _was _pushing him away but only because she couldn't deal with the pain she had felt when she lost Harry happening again if she lost Charlie.

* * *

Hermione was forced to spend some more time in hospital, but with the promise that they were getting closer to rescuing Harry she got better but the healers still wouldn't remove the band saying she was mentally unstable even after they let her out of the hospital wing where she had practically lived since she got to District 6.

The first place she went was to the quarters she shared with Rachel, she had barely been in them yet, and they were miserable and grey like everything else in this place anyway.

'I am so sick of being underground!' Hermione hissed as she threw herself onto her bed.

'So am I, but at least we're safe down here,' Rachel said with a shrug from where she was sitting on her bed.

Hermione groaned, 'I mean there are no windows, no sky…I feel like the days are melding into one.'

'If you followed your schedule you wouldn't have that problem,' Rachel noted, holding up her arm which was infused with writing.

'I've not had one, they said I was too mentally unstable to follow it,' Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

'You'll get one now that you're out,' Rachel assured her, 'mark my words it will be on your arm tomorrow morning.'

Hermione sighed, glancing over to her sister, 'how are you holding up Rachel?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean you had to watch me go through the games, then you watched 5 get attacked, and Mum and Dad…' Hermione trailed off, they were her adopted parents and she had never been all that close with them but all the same she didn't wish death on them. She hadn't actually seen them for 2 years, Rachel had moved out and Hermione had instead lived with her sister.

'I'm okay,' Rachel said honestly, 'it was hard at first, but I feel happy that I'm actually doing something to help.'

Hermione hummed thoughtfully at this, thinking back to the broken man she had seen on the screen a few days ago and how much she wished she could do something to help him.

Rachel had been right, Hermione _had _woken up with a schedule on her arm the following morning. It was pretty strict, detailing when she had to have all of her meals and detailing her free time. She got up with Rachel and they went to the dining hall, so far Hermione had eaten all of her meals in the hospital wing.

'Look there's Charlie,' Hermione said, dragging her sister over to the man and sitting down next to him, 'Hey Charlie,' she said casually.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at Hermione, 'Finally let you out?'

'Yep,' she said, 'but I'm still mentally unstable apparently,' she casually waved her hand with the band on it.

'How are you feeling anyway?'

'Good actually, I just want to be out doing something. Staying underground is driving me crazy.'

'I know the feeling,' Charlie muttered, 'can't remember the last time I had a drink.'

'That's not such a bad thing though,' Hermione said with a slight smile, 'I prefer you this way.'

Charlie shot her a sheepish smile, 'What has you in high spirits?'

Hermione shrugged and shot a smile Rachel's way, 'I don't know, I guess it just feels good to be doing something.'

* * *

Later that day at 14.07 as her schedule demanded, Hermione appeared in the command room and took her seat next to Charlie. Remus smiled at her and said he was glad she was finally out of the hospital wing and seemed to be on the mend.

The meeting began as always, with an update on the districts.

'We have good news today,' Remus said, waving his wand and causing the map of the districts to appear on the screen behind him. It had taken a few meetings, but Hermione finally understood the map, the districts flashing red had broken free of capitol control, those in amber were in the middle of doing so and those in green were still very much capitol controlled.

'Districts 4 and 5 have both broken free of capitol control,' Remus said happily, 'we have commanders stationed there running the districts until a more permanent solution can be found. As you can see District 2 has also begun to rebel,' he added, pointing at the flashing amber part of the map.

'Really? How did you get District 2 to rebel?' Hermione asked in surprise.

'District 2 aren't quite as capitol mad as the capitol like to think Hermione,' Sirius said with a slight smile, 'they don't like the fact Voldemort sends their pureblood kids into the games, they would rather it was just the half-bloods and muggle-borns. Getting them to rebel only took a little longer than it took the others.'

'So how do we crack 1?' Hermione asked, leaning forward eagerly.

'Yes, that's the hard part. People in 1 _are _rebelling,' Remus said, 'but they are a minority group, I think once 2 has fallen we will need to send troops out there and help them to overcome the capitol guards.'

Hermione nodded, taking everything in for once, which was rare in meetings like these, 'So what happens when you do go to 1?'

'Well, there's a large mountain where the weapons and technology for the capitol are made, including the wands of those that live there,' Alice Longbottom said, 'we need to somehow destroy it, then the capitol lose access to their much needed supply of deadly weapons.'

'Which means they lose control of 1,' Hermione realised with a nod, 'when is it happening?'

'We don't know,' Frank spoke up, 'we need to wait until District 2 is secured before we act on dealing with 1.'

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Remus cut her off, 'No, you aren't going.'

Hermione frowned and said, 'But I need to do something!'

'You can make yourself useful here,' Remus said gently.

'No, I can't! I want to be out helping people! I want to be doing something!' Hermione exclaimed angrily.

'You are a 17 year old girl Hermione!' Remus snapped, 'not a trained Auror or fighter like everyone else in this room!'

Wanting to scream in frustration Hermione turned on her heel, but Sirius jumped up to block her way, she pushed him but he didn't move and then out of nowhere Charlie appeared, shoving Sirius aside.

Hermione paid no attention to Charlie as she rushed from the room to her quarters, throwing herself on her bed and trying not to burst into frustrated tears. She wasn't surprised when Charlie walked in, without knocking, a few minutes later.

'That was dumb.'

'You were dumber for helping me,' Hermione said glumly, 'you'll get punished for that.'

'I already have been,' Charlie said as he sat down next to her, 'Remus took my wand.'

'Sorry,' Hermione said quietly.

Charlie shrugged, 'You had the right to be angry.'

'Prove to them you can handle it, there's still a while until they even think about going to District 1,' Charlie said, putting his arm around Hermione and going to kiss her on the cheek. Hermione turned her head around, catching Charlie's lips instead. They both knew it was wrong, but neither of them pulled away from the kiss. Not until the door was yanked open and they both looked up to see none other than Sirius Black standing there.

'What is this?' He fumed, 'first on the flying carpet coming back from 4? And now this?'

Hermione's heart was pounding, Charlie stood up pulling himself to his full height so he was taller than Sirius.

'Aren't you supposed to be in love with my Godson? The one who they are _torturing _right now in the capitol!' Sirius raged.

Hermione burst into tears and fell into a crazed ramble about how Harry was probably dead, and how she felt so alone, and how Charlie was her only friend, it got intelligible after that.

'Sirius,' Charlie hissed angrily, 'she's mentally unstable,' he said, pointing to the band on her arm, 'you really shouldn't mention the words 'Harry' and 'Capitol' around her right now, look what it does to her!'

Sirius grabbed Charlie by the front of his drab, grey uniform and said threateningly, 'If she's mentally unstable _you _shouldn't be screwing around with her Charlie!'

Letting go of him and pushing him into the wall Sirius stormed from the room, and Charlie realised that the man was right. He sighed, picking Hermione up and taking her to the hospital wing once more.

**TBC :)  
**


End file.
